Dorian has this belief in mind when he murders Basil. Here we see that the artist is killed for his excessive love of physical beauty; the same art that he wished to merge with is the cause of his mortal downfall (Juan 64).
Lord Henry Wotton, the most influential man in Dorian's life, is an aesthete of the mind. Basil is an artist who uses a brush while Wotton is an artist who uses words: .
There is no good, no evil, no morality and immorality; there are modes of being. To live is to experiment aesthetically in living to experiment all sensations, to know all emotions, and to think all thoughts, in order that the self's every capacity may be imaginatively realized (West 5811).
Lord Henry believes that, "it is better to be beautiful than to be good" (Wilde 215). Although he attests that aestheticism is a mode of thought, he does not act on his beliefs. Basil Hallward accuses him saying, "You never say a moral thing and you never do a wrong thing" (5). However, Lord Henry does take the immoral action of influencing Dorian.
Although Lord Henry states that, "all influence is immoral" (Wilde 18), he nonetheless drastically changes Dorian Gray. As Dorian acts on the beliefs of Lord Henry, the portrait's beauty becomes corrupted. "Lord Henry presents Dorian with the tenants of his New Hedonism, whose basis is self-development leading to the perfect realization of one's nature" (Eriksen 97). If Lord Henry's aesthetic ideas have validity ,Dorian Gray's portrait should not become ugly, but rather more beautiful. Since the picture becomes loathsome, it is evident that Lord Henry's beliefs are untrue (West 5811). Dorian becomes so disgusted with the horrible portrait that he slashes the canvas, and the knife pierces his own heart. Because Lord Henry is responsible for influencing Dorian Gray, he is partly the cause of the death of Dorian (5810).
While Lord Henry is indirectly the cause of Dorian's death, he too causes his own downfall.