'The Prince' I know normally the prince would normally be in lower case, but in this story I am calling the MC 'The Prince' in certain parts in place of his name. Stylistically I want to make it The Prince rather than the prince because I want it to show how in certain circumstances that is how he sees himself and those around him see him. I only call him Socrates/Soc when he is around his bestfriend or other people he forms a bond with later in the story.
Usually you'd only capitalise it when someone is addressing him as "The Prince", or as "Prince Socrates", i.e. instead of his name, which would of course be capitalised - "Who is that?" she asked. "The Prince" he replied. By extension, you wouldn't usually capitalise it in reference - "There had been rumours about the prince". However, I get what you're talking about. In certain company, perpetually referring to him as "The Prince", no matter the context, may show respect, or show him to be elevated in his own opinion, depending on how it was used. Conversely, when other refer to him in the standard lower case, the opposite could well be perceived. I'd be careful not to overdo it though. It's a stylistic, sure, and maybe one you could get a little mileage out of, but nothing that has been said above couldn't be done by other means. These others means could be more or less subtle, depending on your needs. Personally, I suspect that ultimately it's unnecessary however - whatever effect its use can achieve will probably, or perhaps ought to be, evident elsewhere. I wouldn't want to rely on it.
YEAH!! Ahem. Yes, I don't see why you shouldn't capitalise it. But perhaps see how you feel about it when you've written a chapter with The Prince as opposed to the prince.
Sounds like a good idea to me. With the way you've described it, it sounds like the logic behind it will be clear enough to readers that they won't perceive it as an inconsistency.
Thanks, that's what I think. I want to call him 'The Prince' when he is the abused, neglected child at the palace. He becomes Socrates or Soc when he is around people who actually care about him, his bestfriend, his mentor etc At this stage I think it will add impact to the story.
I have a similar character, but haven't capitalise 'the', just 'the Baron' (so not 'The Baron'). Is this halting between two opinions? What about if you use a group name, e.g., 'The Elders' vis-à-vis 'the Elders'?
You don't capitalize the 't' in 'the,' unless its the first word in a sentence. It's not an important word.
The Queen, The Prince of Wales. The President of the United States. Since they are all names, and the 'the' relates to them specifically, I would capitalise it.
Thanks Evelon had forgotten about that and realised I actually call my Abbot - The Abbot, as he is the only one in the country and the equivelent. I think The Prince should be fine he is second in line. Although there are two other Princes (his father's brothers).
I agree that the 't' in 'the' is generally not capitalized in a title for any reason, but as I understood it, you are going for an extra dramatic effect by capitalizing both words when it's used in place of his name. It seems to me that doing the same thing with other titles in the book would detract from this effect...but it's up to you.
The Abbot is the only other one - he's been that way for awhile. For similar reasons I guess he could be the Abbot in the novella though as Socrates doesn't think of him as 'The Abbot' whereas in my novel Angus was scared of him. The difference between them is The Abbot is like The Queen. I'll have to consider The Abbot vs the Abbot as I do want 'The Prince'
traditionally speaking it's not grammatically correct to capitalize it, but if you deliberately break the rule to put more emphasis on his/her title, no one will care.
Seconds Ellipse. I've seen it used before in published writing and there it would be the Prince, with a lowercase "the".
yes sorry - I had them in mind's eye when I said it, naturally they would be Prince Thomas and Prince Frederick.
