Displaying Death: The Ethics of Museums and Morbid Objects

In this paper, I discuss the ethical issues with museums' display of objects associated with death. I call these artifacts "morbid objects," and argue that they provoke significant reactions from visitors because of their connection to a specific narrative in the past. Attitudes towards death promoted by museums' treatment of morbid objects as mere entertainment can be unhealthy, violating the museum's obligation to its visitors as well as to the represented dead. I conclude that museums can more ethically avoid unhealthy morbidity by displaying these objects in such a way that viewers can understand the historical death as well as their own mortality in terms of a meaningful narrative.