Edgar Allen Poe created an interesting paradigm around his theory of the cosmic principle. He sees the universe as God's artistic creation dispersed among humanity. Artists, i.e. poets, bring the universe together by freeing themselves from their physical world and the corruption and materialism related to it. To do this, poets must use their imagination and dig deep into their mind to find the original harmony of the universe. Poe's theory goes on to describe the dualistic nature of humanity, where man is both spiritual and rational. The spiritual side draws on imagination, emotion and creativity while the rational side remains earthly and distant from cosmic unity. Ultimately, poets can find unity with the universe only through death. In Poe's "The Masque of the Red Death," Prince Prospero attempts to rid himself of the Red Death by retreating into his mind. Prospero represents the spiritualistic side of the poet and Red Death represents the earthly rationality of life. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Prospero represents the spiritual mind of his character. Poe describes the spiritual poet as someone who seeks to free himself from his materialistic reality by "looking into the depths of his mind" (Poe's Cosmology). Furthermore, Prospero attempts to "free himself from time, reason [and] the physical world" (Poe's Cosmology). The dualist poet creates his own reality – free from unpredictability, danger, or death – and uses his imagination, creativity, and emotions to approach the "harmony of the universe" (Poe's Cosmology). In “The Masque of the Red Death,” the red death represents the experiences of life, and does so by creating a “voluptuous scene” (Poe 62). To escape the plague of the Red Death, Prospero retreats "to the deep seclusion of one of his fortified abbeys" and seals himself with "iron gates" (Poe 62). Prospero's retreat is "bold and fiery" and filled with "much of the beautiful, much of the wild, [and] much of the bizarre" (Poe 64). Prospero reconstructs a world within the abbey, where a “multitude of dreams…writhe in and around,” floating like the “wild music of the orchestra” (Poe 64). Prospero isolates himself in a world of emotions and images to escape his profane physical environment, and so Prospero creates an imaginary world of phantasmagoric environments within the walls of the abbey. According to the concept of dualism, a poet surrounds himself with his own creativity and beauty to escape the harshest reality. Likewise, Prospero surrounds himself with beautiful scenes and bizarre dreams both to escape the ugly realities of life and to exclude his physicality - represented by the Red Death - from his mind. Just as Prospero represents the spiritual side of the dualistic poet, the Red Death represents the earthly rationality of life. Poe describes this side of the dualistic poet as having "rational knowledge" and characterizes him as "sick, dark, and insensitive" (Poe's Cosmology). This rational side can be seen as a series of inevitable constants: desperation, pain, materialism and death. In “The Masque of the Red Death,” the fatal “Red Death” rages through Prospero’s country and infects people with “sharp pains…profuse hemorrhages…[and] convulsions” (Poe 62). Prospero attempts to exclude the plague from his life, but the "presence of a masked figure" appears at his great party; “Neither spirit nor decorum exist(ed)” in this figure, dressed “in the garb of the grave” (Poe 65). The Red Death has no “tangible form” and comes “like a thief in the night” to those who “exclude it” (Poe 66, 62). Prospero tries to attack the Red Death, but dies first.