NOLI ME TANGERE (SYNOPSIS)

ACT 1 In a town called San Diego, Juan Crisostomo Ibarra has arrived back from
Madrid, fresh from his liberal arts studies in Spain. He is the son of Don Rafael Ibarra,
recently deceased who was imprisoned, falsely accused of heresy and political
treachery. During Crisostomo’s sojourn in Spain, Don Rafael died in the solitude of his
prison cell.

Crisostomo’s childhood sweetheart, Maria Clara de los Santos, faithfully but

impatiently awaits his visit. Padre Bernardo Salvi, the new parish priest of San Diego,
casts a dark spell on the two young lovers, revealing his maddening passion for Maria
Clara’s physical beauty.

Padre Damaso, the former parish priest of San Diego secretly had an affair with
a married woman (Doña Pia) who bore him an illegitimate daughter – Maria Clara. To
mask his guilt, Padre Damaso exploits the religious fanaticism of Pia’s impotent
husband, Kapitan Tiago who accepts Maria Clara both as a daughter and “a miracle
from God”. However filled with guilt, Padre Damaso naturally treats his daughter as his
most prized possession. This explains his hatred and aversion for Crisostomo Ibarra,
the son of a creole mestizo. To protect Maria, Padre Damaso vented his ire on
Crisostomo’s father, masterminding Don Rafael’s imprisonment and death. He
evenprevented his parishioners to give Don Rafael a Christian burial. He is instead
buried in the Chinese cemetery but his corpse is exhumed and then hurled into the lake
by the frightened gravedigger. On All Soul’s Day, Crisostomo visits his father’s former
gravesite and hearing of this “double murder”, Crisostomo confronts the gravedigger
who acting upon the orders of the former parish priest, unearthed his father’s corpse.
The gravedigger confesses that his fear of eternal damnation forced him to disobey his
superior. Instead, he chose to cast Don Rafael’s body into the lake. An enraged
Crisostomo mistakes Padre Salvi for the Culprit and tries to beat him up. The crowd
prevents him. Crisostomo leaves. Padre Salvi, the peninsular, swears to become the
creole’s mortal enemy. Crisostomo visits the lake and summons the body of the water
to relay to his father’s spirit, the grief of a son who was not there to bid him a proper
goodbye. The ghost of Don Rafael appears but is unable to speak. Crisostomo
collapses in grief. His love for Maria Clara however prevents him from indulging in self-
pity.

Crisostomo decides to host a grand picnic in her honor. Wanting to make

amends, Crisostomo invites Padre Salvi. Salvi’s eyes betray their longing for Maria
Clara, thus causing some consternation among the lovers and their friends. This
consternation gives way to panic on the day of the picnic when a crocodile from the
lake. A mysterious person joins Ibarra in the struggle to kill the crocodile found in the
fish trap. The mood becomes festive, only to turn sour as Padre Salvi receives Ibarra’s
dream to build a school for Filipinos with cold and calculating indifference. Unfazed by
the reaction, Crisostomo articulates the objectives of his school. Maria Clara supports
him.

Curiously, in Act II the very decadence and subservience of fellow Filipinos in the
persons of the socially pretentious Doña Victorina de Espadaña and the religiously
hypocritical Kapitan Tiago succeeds in rolling out the red carpet for Padre Salvi’s and
Padre Damaso’s black design against Crisostomo Ibarra. Padre Damaso uses all his
powers to persuade Kapitan Tiago to break off Maria Clara’s engagement to Crisostomo
Ibarra. The weak-spirited Kapitan has no choice but to obey. In the town of San Diego
two social outcasts – in the persons of Sisa, a woman mad with grief over the
disappearance of her two sons and a leper – wander around town. The sordid tales of
Sisa and the leper succeed in mystifying both Ibarra and Maria. Why are they
suffering? Maria Clara seems to see herself in the two.

Elias, the mysterious indio at the picnic, warns Crisostomo Ibarra of an attempt
on his life during the day of his school’s inauguration. Ibarra unfazed embraces Maria
Clara, his source of strength. The cornerstone for the school is inaugurated with
ceremony. Elias’ warning comes true, when an accident occurs as predicted, but
Crisostomo Ibarra is spared – in his stead a construction worker is crushed by a
boulder. Crisostomo Ibarra is deeply disturbed. Padre Damaso however does not
spare Crisostomo’s peace of mind. He mocks Crisostomo Ibarra’s school plans and
defiles the name and memory of his father. The shadows of both Salvi and Damaso
loom large and dangerous. In a blind moment, Crisostomo Ibarra attempts to strangle
Damaso. Maria stops him. Meanwhile, another priest of Pia’s letters to Padre Damaso
reveals everything to Maria Clara. Crisostomo Ibarra’s excommunication following his
assault on Damaso hastens the realization of Salvi’s prayer. Padre Salvi blackmails
Maria Clara. He confides to Maria the sins of her mother and true father. He bribes
Maria with the destruction of the two letters in exchange for the surrender of one most
precious to Maria – Crisostomo Ibarra’s farewell letter to her before he left Spain. A
mother’s honor and a father’s curse painfully outweigh the love for a man. Maria Clara
agrees and slumps in despair. Doña Victorina and her Spanish clone Don Tiburcio
come in for the doctor’s famous medical consultation ending in a nightmarish serenade
when Señor Linares is introduced as Maria Clara’s new suitor.

Act III continues Salvi’s and Damaso’s personal pattern of vengeance and
destruction: Crisostomo manages to have his elation tempered by Maria’s bland
reaction and distracted demeanor. Crisostomo takes this as a sign of her growing
fondness for Señor Linares. Maria begs him to understand her troubled silence.
Crisostomo leaves. It is Salvi’s turn to complete his machinations: to push Crisostomo
against the wall, force him to resort to an uprising, and then incite his followers to turn
against him. Elias unwittingly becomes a pawn of Salvi. As a friend, Elias works on
Crisostomo’s passion for social reform. But Crisostomo refuses to resort to violence.
Elias leaves him alone. With or without Crisostomo Ibarra, an uprising against the
government takes place. Innocent civilians are arrested. Crisostomo Ibarra is
mysteriously branded as the instigator. He allows himself to be arrested. Elias tries to
save him but is overpowered by the civil guards. Again, innocent civilians are not
spared. The people of San Diego condemn Crisostomo; they call him heretic, they cry
out for his death. Unloved by both the townspeople and Maria Clara, Crisostomo Ibarra
has change of heart. He escapes his guards helped by Elias. He visits Maria Clara one
last time. Maria reveals the scandal that forced her to betray him. Crisostomo Ibarra
begs for her forgiveness as the guardia civil is about to arrest him. Crisostomo Ibarra
and Maria Clara bid each other goodbye. A chase ensues whereby Crisostomo and
Elias end up diving into the waters of the lake to escape their captors. Elias is shot
dead.