The Tempest and Forbidden Planet
Answer both questions from Part A and select two additional questions to respond to from Part B.
Part A:
1. Compare two of the characters from Forbidden Planet with two of the characters from The Tempest.
2. Discuss a thematic connection between the film and the play.
Part B:
3. In The Tempest, Prospero finally looks at the monster Caliban and says, “This thing of darkness I /
Acknowledge mine.” How is the monster in Forbidden Planet more blatantly something of Dr.
Morbius?
4. Consider how Altaira, the Miranda character in Forbidden Planet, is represented in terms of 1950s
gender politics. Compare her to other representations of Miranda we've seen.
5. Consider how Ferdinand is re-imagined as Commander Adams. What's the significance of his name?
What's the connection between Science Fiction, colonial narratives, and the Genesis myth?
6. Compare the “Caliban” monster and Robby the Robot to other representations of Caliban and Ariel.
How does this change the power relationships in the film?
7. What are the relations among the following key terms: Science Fiction, magic, technology? Discuss in
relation to The Tempest and Forbidden Planet. How do these texts address issues related to colonialism
and empire via these key terms?
8. The Tempest contains incomplete family relationships: Prospero and Miranda (no mother) and Caliban
and Sycorax (no father with Sycorax only mentioned twice in the play, Acts 1 and 3, scene 2). Discuss
these relations in relation to how Forbidden Planet deals with family relations. Use specific scenes to
focus your discussion. What kinds of family power dynamics occur in the film and how does it mirror
what goes on in The Tempest?
9. Comment on Miranda as a symbolic figure—the only visible woman in Shakespeare’s final play. How
does the film play with this symbolism and do new things with it?
10. How are science and scientific progress portrayed in this film? What are the implied "legitimate" uses to
which science may be put? What makes them "legitimate"? Which are "illegitimate"?
11. In what ways might this film's portrayal of technology and "Others" be read as a cultural text that deals
with social and political norms in mid-1950's America?