…That has such people in ‘t!"
As you may have seen in our Crazy Word Origins gallery, the term “brave” has two meanings. The modern sense equates it with “courageous,” but the older sense links to “barbaric” as well. So when Miranda says, “O brave new world,” she probably means it in the modern sense. But Prospero, her parental figure who fled these men who have just washed ashore, sees them more as barbarians to be feared. In the play, however, Miranda is the better validated, and her faith turns out to be well-placed.