A brave new world
Meaning
A new situation or era, often exciting but potentially unsettling or unknown, typically viewed with a mix of wonder and apprehension.
Origin
The phrase springs directly from William Shakespeare's enchanting final play, The Tempest, first performed in 1611. It's uttered by Miranda, the innocent daughter of the banished Duke Prospero, who has lived her entire life on a secluded island with only her father and two servants for company. When a shipwreck brings a group of European nobles to her shores, she sees other humans for the first time in her life. Overwhelmed by the sight of these new faces, she exclaims, "O, wonder! How many goodly creatures are there here! How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world, That has such people in't!" Her words, filled with awe and naive optimism, perfectly capture the mixture of wonder and potential peril that accompanies any encounter with the unknown. Later, Aldous Huxley famously used the phrase as the title for his dystopian novel, giving it a more ironic, sinister edge in popular culture, yet its original meaning still resonates with the thrill and apprehension of discovery.
Examples
- After graduating, moving to a new city felt like stepping into a brave new world, full of both opportunities and unknowns.
- The rapid advancement of artificial intelligence is leading us into a brave new world of technology, with implications we can barely imagine.