Miranda

Play

The Tempest

Summary

Prospero's daughter who has grown up on the island knowing no other human young enough to be her peer. Her name means "worthy of wonder," and wonder is her defining quality — she is the play's embodiment of uncorrupted moral feeling, moved to compassion by the shipwreck before she knows it is staged. Her famous exclamation at first seeing the collected court is the play's most ironic and complex moment: entirely sincere on her part, seen through by the audience who knows what villainy the "brave new world" contains.

Notable Quotations

"O brave new world / That has such people in't!" *(V.i)*

"O, I have suffered / With those that I saw suffer!" *(I.ii)*

Cross-references

• The Tempest — the play
• Romances (Late Plays)
• character_prospero — her father and protector
• character_ferdinand — her suitor and future husband
• character_caliban — who attempted to violate her