Noli Me Tangere’s Plot
accounting; Salví fearfully tells Crisóstomo that the
Crisóstomo Ibarra, the mestizo son of the recently
deceased Don Rafael Ibarra, is returning to San
Diego in Laguna after seven years of study in
Europe. Kapitán Tiago, a family friend, bids him to
spend his first night in Manila where Tiago hosts a
reunion party at his riverside home on Anloague
Street. Crisóstomo obliges. At dinner he encounters
old friends, Manila high society, and Padre Dámaso,
San Diego's old curate at the time Ibarra left for
Europe. Dámaso treats Crisóstomo with hostility,
surprising the young man who took the friar to be a
friend of his father.
Crisóstomo excuses himself early and is making
his way back to his hotel when Lieutenant Guevarra,
another friend of his father, catches up with him. As
the two of them walk to Crisóstomo's stop, and away
from the socialites at the party who may possibly
compromise them if they heard, Guevarra reveals to
the young man the events leading up to Rafael's death
and Dámaso's role in it. Crisóstomo, who has been
grieving from the time he learned of his father's death,
decides to forgive and not seek revenge. Guevarra
nevertheless warns the young man to be careful.
The following day, Crisóstomo returns to
Kapitán Tiago's home in order to meet with his
childhood sweetheart, Tiago's daughter María Clara.
The two flirt and reminisce in the azotea, a porch
overlooking the river. María reads back to Crisóstomo
his farewell letter wherein he explained to her Rafael's
wish for Crisóstomo to set out, to study in order to
become a more useful citizen of the country. Seeing
Crisóstomo agitated at the mention of his father,
however, María playfully excuses herself, promising to
see him again at her family's San Diego home during
the town fiesta.
Crisóstomo goes to the town cemetery upon
reaching San Diego to visit his father's grave.
However, he learns from the gravedigger that the
town curate had ordered that Rafael's remains be
exhumed and transferred to a Chinese cemetery.
Although Crisóstomo is angered at the revelation, the
gravedigger adds that on the night he dug up the
corpse, it rained hard and he feared for his own soul,
causing him to defy the order of the priest by throwing
the body into the lake. At that moment, Padre
Bernardo Salví, the new curate of San Diego, walks
into the cemetery. Crisóstomo's anger explodes as he
shoves him into the ground and demands an
transfer was ordered by the previous curate, Padre
Dámaso, causing the latter to leave in consternation.
Crisóstomo, committed to his patriotic endeavors, is
determined not to seek revenge and to put the
matter behind him. As the days progress he carries
out his plan to serve his country as his father wanted.
He intends to use his family wealth to build a
school, believing that his paisanos would benefit
from a more modern education than what is offered in
the schools run by the government, whose curriculum
was heavily tempered by the teachings of the friars.
Enjoying massive support, even from the Spanish
authorities, Crisóstomo's preparations for his school
advance quickly in only a few days. He receives
counsel from Don Anastacio, a revered local
philosopher, who refers him to a progressive
schoolmaster who lamented the friars' influence on
public education and wished to introduce reforms. The
building was planned to begin construction with the
cornerstone to be laid in a ceremony during San
Diego's town fiesta.
One day, taking a break, Crisóstomo, María, and
their friends get on a boat and go on a picnic along
the shores of the Laguna de Baý, away from the
town center. It is then discovered that a crocodile had
been lurking on the fish pens owned by the Ibarras.
Elías, the boat's pilot, jumps into the water with a bolo
knife drawn. Sensing Elías is in dpaas well, and they
subdue the animal together. Crisóstomo mildly scolds
the pilot for his rashness, while Elías proclaims himself
in Crisóstomo's debt.
On the day of the fiesta, Elías warns Crisóstomo of a
plot to kill him at the cornerstone-laying. The
ceremony involved the massive stone being lowered
into a trench by a wooden derrick. Crisóstomo, being
the principal sponsor of the project, is to lay the mortar
using a trowel at the bottom of the trench. As he
prepares to do so, however, the derrick fails and the
stone falls into the trench, bringing the derrick down
with it in a mighty crash. When the dust clears, a pale,
dust-covered Crisóstomo stands stiffly by the trench,
having narrowly missed the stone. In his place beneath
the stone is the would-be assassin. Elías has
disappeared.
The festivities continue at Crisóstomo's insistence.
Later that day, he hosts a luncheon to which Padre
Dámaso gatecrashes. Over the meal, the old friar
berates Crisóstomo, his learning, his journeys, and the
school project. The other guests hiss for discretion, but
Dámaso ignores them and continues in an even
louder voice, insulting the memory of Rafael in
front of Crisóstomo. At the mention of his father,
Crisóstomo strikes the friar unconscious and holds a
dinner knife to his neck. In an impassioned speech,
Crisóstomo narrates to the astonished guests
everything he heard from Lieutenant Guevarra, who
was an officer of the local police, about Dámaso's
schemes that resulted in the death of Rafael. As
Crisóstomo is about to stab Dámaso, however,
María Clara stays his arm and pleads for mercy.
Crisóstomo is excommunicated from the church, but
has it lifted through the intercession of the sympathetic
governor general. However, upon his return to San
Diego, María has turned sickly and refuses to see him.
The new curate whom Crisóstomo roughly accosted at
the cemetery,
Padre Salví, is seen hovering around the house.
Crisóstomo then meets the inoffensive Linares, a and was thus the author of the misfortunes of Elías and
peninsular Spaniard who, unlike Crisóstomo, had been
born in Spain. Tiago presents Linares as María's new
suitor.
Sensing Crisóstomo's influence with the
government, Elías takes Crisóstomo into confidence
and one moonlit night, they secretly sail out into the
lake. Elías tells him about a revolutionary group
poised for an open and violent clash with the
government. This group has reached out to Elías in
a bid for him to join them in their imminent
uprising. Elías tells Crisóstomo that he managed to
delay the group's plans by offering to speak to
Crisóstomo first, that Crisóstomo may use his
influence to effect the reforms Elías and his group
wish to see.
In their conversation, Elías narrates his family's
history, how his grandfather in his youth worked as a
bookkeeper in a Manila office but was accused of
arson by the Spanish owner when the office burned
down. He was prosecuted and upon release was
shunned by the community as a dangerous lawbreaker.
His wife turned to prostitution to support the family
but were eventually driven into the hinterlands.
Crisóstomo sympathizes with Elías, but insists that
he could do nothing, and that the only change he
was capable of was through his schoolbuilding
project. Rebuffed, Elías advises Crisóstomo to avoid
any association with him in the future for his own
safety.
Heartbroken and desperately needing to speak to
María, Crisóstomo turns his focus more towards
his school. One evening, though, Elías returns with
more information – a rogue uprising was planned
for that same night, and the instigators had used
Crisóstomo's name in vain to recruit malcontents.
The authorities know of the uprising and are prepared
to spring a trap on the rebels.
In panic and ready to abandon his project,
Crisóstomo enlists Elías in sorting out and
destroying documents in his study that may
implicate him. Elías obliges, but comes across a name
familiar to him: Don Pedro Eibarramendia.
Crisóstomo tells him that Pedro was his great-
grandfather, and that they had to shorten his long
family name. Elías tells him Eibarramendia was the
same Spaniard who accused his grandfather of arson
his family. Frenzied, he raises his bolo to smite
Crisóstomo, but regains his senses and leaves the
house very upset.
The uprising follows through, and many of the
rebels are either captured or killed. They point to
Crisóstomo as instructed and Crisóstomo is
arrested. The following morning, the instigators are
found dead. It is revealed that Padre Salví ordered
the senior sexton to kill them in order to prevent
the chance of them confessing that he actually took
part in the plot to frame Crisóstomo. Elías,
meanwhile, sneaks back into the Ibarra mansion
during the night and sorts through documents and
valuables, then burns down the house.
Some time later, Kapitán Tiago hosts a dinner at
his riverside house in Manila to celebrate María
Clara's engagement with Linares. Present at the
party were Padre Dámaso, Padre Salví, Lieutenant
Guevarra, and other family friends. They were
discussing the events that happened in San Diego and
Crisóstomo's fate.
Salví, who lusted after María Clara all along, says that
he has requested to be transferred to the Convent of the
Poor Clares in Manila under the pretense of recent
events in San Diego being too great for him to bear. A
despondent Guevarra outlines how the court came to
condemn Crisóstomo. In a signed letter, he wrote to a
certain woman before leaving for Europe,
Crisóstomo spoke about his father, an alleged rebel
who died in prison. Somehow this letter fell into the
hands of an enemy, and Crisóstomo's handwriting
was imitated to create the bogus orders used to
recruit the malcontents to the San Diego uprising.
Guevarra remarks that the penmanship on the orders
was similar to Crisóstomo's penmanship seven years
before, but not at the present day. And Crisóstomo had
only to deny that the signature on the original letter
was his, and the charge of sedition founded on those
bogus letters would fail. But upon seeing the letter,
which was the farewell letter he wrote to María Clara,
Crisóstomo apparently lost the will to fight the
charges and owned the letter as his.
Guevarra then approaches María, who had been
listening to his explanation. Privately but sorrowfully,
he congratulates her for her common sense in yielding
Crisóstomo's farewell letter. Now, the old officer tells
her, she can live a life of peace. María is devastated.
Later that evening Crisóstomo, having escaped from
prison with the help of Elías, climbs up the azotea and
confronts María in secret. María, distraught, does not
deny giving up his farewell letter, but explains she did
so only because Salví found Dámaso's old letters in the
San Diego parsonage, letters from María's mother who
was then pregnant with María. It turns out that Dámaso
was María's father. Salví promised not to divulge
Dámaso's letters to the public in exchange for
Crisóstomo's farewell letter. Crisóstomo forgives her,
María swears her undying love, and they part with a
kiss.
Crisóstomo and Elías escape on Elías's boat. They slip
unnoticed through the Estero de Binondo and into
the Pasig River. Elías tells Crisóstomo that his
treasures and documents are buried in the middle
of the forest owned by the Ibarras in San Diego.
Wishing to make restitution, Crisóstomo offers Elías
the chance to escape with him to a foreign country,
where they will live as brothers. Elías declines,
stating that his fate is with the country he wishes to
see reformed and liberated.
Crisóstomo then tells him of his own desire for
revenge and revolution, to lengths that even Elías was
unwilling to go. Elías tries to reason with him, but
sentries catch up with them at the mouth of the
Pasig River and pursue them across Laguna de
Bay. Elías orders Crisóstomo to lie down and to
meet with him in a few days at the mausoleum of
Crisóstomo's grandfather in San Diego, as he jumps
into the water in an effort to distract the pursuers. Elías
is shot several times.
The following day, news of the chase were in the
newspapers. It is reported that Crisóstomo, the
fugitive, had been killed by sentries in pursuit. At
the news, María remorsefully demands of Dámaso that
her wedding with Linares be called off and that she be
entered into the cloister, or the grave.
Seeing her resolution, Dámaso admits that the true
reason that he ruined the Ibarra family and her
relationship with Crisóstomo was because he was a
mere mestizo and Dámaso wanted María to be as
happy as she could be, and that was possible only if
she were to marry a full-blooded peninsular
Spaniard. María would not hear of it and repeated her
ultimatum, the cloister or the grave. Knowing fully
why Salví had earlier requested to be assigned as
chaplain in the Convent of the Poor Clares, Dámaso
pleads with María to reconsider, but to no avail.
Weeping, Dámaso consents, knowing the horrible fate
that awaits his daughter within the convent but finding
it more tolerable than her suicide.
A few nights later in the forest of the Ibarras, a boy
pursues his mother through the darkness. The
woman went insane with the constant beating of her
husband and the loss of her other son, an altar boy, in
the hands of Padre Salví. Basilio, the boy, catches up
with Sisa, his mother, inside the Ibarra mausoleum in
the middle of the forest, but the strain had already been
too great for Sisa. She dies in Basilio's embrace.
Basilio weeps for his mother, but then looks up to
see Elías staring at them. Elías was dying himself,
having lost a lot of blood and having had no food or
nourishment for several days as he made his way to
the mausoleum. He instructs Basilio to burn their
bodies and if no one comes, to dig inside the
mausoleum. He will find treasure, which he is to use
for his own education.
As Basilio leaves to fetch the wood, Elías sinks to the
ground and says that “he will die without seeing the
Constantino, Renato."Our task: to make Rizal
dawn of freedom for his people and that those who
obsolete" in This week, Manila Chronicle ( 14 June
see it must welcome it and not forget them that died
1959)
in the darkness.”
Textbook Reference:
In the epilogue, Padre Dámaso is transferred to
occupy a curacy in a remote town. Distraught, he is Pasigui, Ronnie E. and Danilo H. Cabalu (2014). The
found dead a day later. Kapitán Tiago fell into man and the hero (Chronicles, Legacies and
depression and became addicted to opium and is Controversies). C & E Publishing, Inc.
forgotten by the town. Padre Salví, meanwhile,
awaits his consecration as a bishop. He is also the
head priest of the convent where María Clara
resides. Nothing is heard of María Clara; however,
on a September night, during a typhoon, two
patrolmen reported seeing a specter (implied to
be María Clara) on the roof of the Convent of the
Poor Clares moaning and weeping in despair.
The next day, a representative of the authorities visited
the convent to investigate previous night's events and
asked to inspect all the nuns. One of the nuns had a wet
and torn gown and with tears told the representative of
"tales of horror" and begged for "protection against the
outrages of hypocrisy" (which gives the implication
that Padre Salví regularly rapes her when he is
present). The abbess however, said that she was
nothing more than a madwoman. A General J. also
attempted to investigate the nun's case, but by then the
abbess prohibited visits to the convent. Nothing more
was said again about María Clara.

Required Reading:
Rizal, José. 1996. Noli Me Tangere, trans. Ma.
Soledad Lacson-Locsin. Makati: Bookmark.PQ8897
R5 N531 1996 [Read Dedication and Chaps. 1–32]
Rizal, José.. 1996. El filibusterismo, trans. Ma.
Soledad Lacson-Locsin. Makati: Bookmark.
PQ8897.R5 F43l 1996 [Read “To the Filipino People
and their Government,” “To the Memory of the
Priests,” and Chaps. 1–19]

Supplemental Readings: Anderson, Benedict. 2008.

Why counting counts: A study of forms of
consciousness and problems of language in Noli me
tangere and El filibusterismo, pp. 1–37. Quezon City:
Ateneo de Manila University Press. PQ8897 R5 Z5253