Summary

Active Themes

maría Clara’s health slowly improves, much to the surprise

of Doctor de Espadaña, who has prescribed a simple
marshmallow syrup regimen. Father Salví attributes this
improvement to religion, for he took María Clara’s confession. As
he debates with Doña Victorina about the value of religion over
science, María Clara’s friends urge her to take one more pill,
which they store in a glass tube secretly sent to them
by Ibarra. Aunt Isabel enters the room and tells her to prepare to
give another confession. As her friends leave, she whispers, “Tell
him to forget about me” into Sinang’s ear

Father Salví and Doña Victorina’s argument about religion and

science speaks to their desire to portray their own affiliations
as powerful. Salví, on the one hand, is a priest and therefore
wants people to think that María Clara has improved because of
his piety. Victoriña, on the other hand, wants people to think
her husband’s medical care is superior to Salví’s religious
efforts.
Active Themes

Aunt Isabel prepares María Clara for confession by reading her

the ten commandments. María Clara weeps at first, heaving
especially large sobs during the fifth commandment. But her woe
falls away for the last five, which puzzles her aunt. When Father
Salví comes and takes the young woman’s confession, he looks
deeply into her eyes. Upon leaving, he is covered in sweat,
looking like he was the one who “had confessed, and did not
deserve absolution.”

The fifth commandment is “Honour thy father and thy mother.”

Bearing this in mind, María Clara weeps upon hearing this
commandment because she feels pressured by Captain Tiago—
and perhaps by the memory of her mother—to honor her family
by abandoning Ibarra and consenting to marry Linares
In a cave set deep in the forest, Elías meets with a haggard old
man named Captain Pablo. Pablo has with him a band of armed
men with dirt on their skin and torn clothing. Elías is sorry to see
that this friend of his is living in such unfortunate circumstances
and tells him that he’s planning to travel north to live “among the
free, pagan tribes.” He invites Pablo to come along. “I’ll be your
son, since you’ve lost your own, and I, who have no family, will
find a father in you.”

Until this scene, Rizal has not mentioned Elías’s affiliation with
Captain Pablo. Nonetheless, it’s unsurprising that Elías would
have relations with a set of men who are clearly living at the
fringes of Filipino society. Indeed, Pablo’s group of bandits have
clearly been isolated from their communities, a fact that surely
resonates with Elías, who is himself unwelcome in places like
San Diego.
Active Themes

Captain Pablo refuses Elías’s offer, saying that he is like a “tree

shorn of its limbs,” destined to be a fugitive. He briefly recounts
his story, saying that a minister raped his daughter. Because the
minister feared that Pablo’s two sons would take revenge, he
framed one of them as a robber and tortured him to death. The
other son was arrested by the Civil Guard for not carrying identity
papers and treated so badly that he committed suicide. Now,
Pablo explains, he has assembled a number of similarly
disempowered and abused citizens who are seeking revenge.
Elías points out that the rebellion Pablo proposes will have
adverse effects on innocent townspeople, since the church and
government will respond by harming their own citizens.

For perhaps the first time in the novel, the focus truly centers
around the nature of revolution and reform. Elías’s point of
view shows his compassion and his understanding that the
current state of Filipino politics and social relations is too
volatile to simply overthrow using violence, which will certainly
lead to unfortunate citizen casualties. His realistic outlook is
important to remember as the novel progresses, as it shows an
understanding that—as Tasio has already made clear—revenge
for revenge’s sake leads only to more despair
The two brothers whose father died at the hands of the Civil
Guard—the ones who helped Elías stop the riot at the theater—
visit the gambling house, where the townspeople bet on
cockfights. While people like Captain Tiago and Captain
Basilio throw their money around, the brothers—
Társilo and Bruno—speak with Lucas, who tells them he will give
them thirty pesos apiece if they organize an attack on the
barracks. He tells them this money is coming from Ibarra, who
will come the following night to deliver weapons. In two days,
Lucas says, he himself will meet them in the cemetery to give
them their final instructions.

To understand what’s driving Lucas in his schemes, it’s

important to remember that he very recently begged Ibarra for
money and that Ibarra refused to give him any. This begs the
question: where did Lucas get the money to pay people to
attack the barracks? The last time Lucas appeared in the novel,
he was speaking with Father Salví, who seemed remarkably
affected by the young man’s words. Consequently, readers
have cause to wonder if perhaps Lucas is acting on behalf of
the powerful and conniving Father Salví

While the men of San Diego place their bets in the gambling
house, Doña Victorina walks through town dressed in ribbons and
flowers. She walks with her husband, who fails to stand up for
her when passing Civil Guard officers don’t take off their hats for
her on their way by. She becomes even angrier when they come
upon the ensign and he doesn’t compliment her dress. As they go
by the ensign’s house, they see Doña Consolación smoking a
cigar in the window. Victorina takes offense that the woman is
staring at her. She asks if Consolación is jealous of her, and the
two women launch into a verbal fight that quickly escalates into a
screaming match for all to hear.

Doña Consolación and Doña Victorina are both Filipina women

married to Spaniards who they’d like to think are important and
powerful. They most likely recognize elements of themselves in
one another—especially regarding the fact that they are
Filipina, not Spanish—and thus they fight with one another to
prove that they are different. In this way, readers see that
social class and culture in Noli Me Tangere often hinges—at
least in the characters’ minds—upon a person’s affiliations.
Active Themes

When the fight ends, Doña Victorina tells Don Tiburcio that he will
have to challenge the ensign to a duel in order to defend her
honor. When he doesn’t agree, she decides that Linares will be
the one to take on the ensign. Upon learning this, Linares
objects, but Victorina says, “[…] if you don’t I’ll tell Don
Santiago that everything you told him is a lie, I’ll tell him—” At
this point, Linares interrupts, telling her not to be “imprudent.”
Captain Tiago then enters, and Victorina tells him that Linares is
going to challenge the ensign, ordering him not to let the young
man marry his daughter if he fails to do so. That night, the de
Espadañas set off for Manila, leaving Linares behind to defend
Doña Victorina’s name.

When Doña Victorina says that she will tell Tiago that Linares has
been lying to him, she reveals that the young man—much like his
uncle, the fake doctor—is most likely a fraud who is taking
advantage of the remoteness of the Philippines from Spain. In
other words, Linares has lied to Captain Tiago about who he is,
and because the Philippines is geographically isolated from Spain,
nobody—except Victoriña—can fact-check him. In this way, Rizal
offers a new form of isolation, this time showing how Spaniards
benefit from the geographical seclusion brought about by
colonialism.
Active Themes

Ibarra visits María Clara to tell her that his excommunication has
been lifted. When he arrives, he finds her with Linares. Confused,
he says he’ll come back another time, noting a strange look of
hesitancy on his lover’s face. He wanders into the street and
winds his way to the school, where construction continues to
thrive at a good pace. There, among the workers, he spots Elías,
who tells him to meet him by the lakeside to discuss several
important matters.

It’s notable that, despite Ibarra’s excommunication, construction

has continued on the school. This is perhaps thanks to Tasio’s
advice that Ibarra gain approval for the project from the town’s
priests and government officials—because they have invested
themselves in the endeavor, they don’t stop its progress during
the young man’s excommunication.
Active Themes