EL FILIBUSTERISMO

BACKGROUND
On September 18, 1891, the second novel of Dr. Jose Rizal, El Filibusterismo (Reign of
Greed), written in Spanish and a sequel to Noli Me Tangere, was published in Ghent,
Belgium. Rizal, who began writing El Filibusterismo in October 1887 in Calamba,
Laguna, revised some chapters while he was in London and completed the book on
March 29, 1891.
Rizal wrote El Filibusterismo in dedication to the three martyred priests Mariano Gomez,
Jose Burgos, and Jacinto Zamora, expressing conviction that their treatment and deaths
at the hands of the Spanish authorities was unjust.
Plots are poles apart compared with Noli Me Tangere, where people were encouraged
to ask and aspire for change and liberation, in El Filibusterismo, Rizal urged the society
to open its eyes to reality and rebel against the Spanish government for its oppression
and abuse.

CHARACTERS

Simoun
   He is Juan Crisostomo Ibarra of Noli Me Tangere in disguise. He fled to Cuba
where he became rich and consequently befriended many Spanish officials.
   Unlike Ibarra in Noli, he is now vigilant; he now embodies the Filipinos who had had
enough of the cruelties of the Spaniards.
   Outwardly, he is a friend of Spain, but deep in his heart, he is bitter and ruthless,
secretly planning a revolution against the Spanish authorities.
Basilio
   He is the son of Sisa.
   A very promising medical student.
   At first he refuses to join Simoun's plan of overthrowing the Spanish government; in
this, he represents the young educated Filipinos who are apathetic to the needs of
the society.
   Juli's death makes him decide to join Simoun's troop.
Isagani
   He is the nephew of Padre Florentino and the lover of Paulita Gomez.
   Once a person full of hope and aspirations for his country, he was disheartened
and let go of his ideals in favor of personal gains.
   He symbolizes the youth who, despite their being very aggressive and idealistic,
cannot be relied on in times of adversity.
Señor Pasta
   He is an old Filipino lawyer who refuses to help the Filipino students in their clamor
for educational reforms.
   He represents the part of the society that is only generous and sympathetic to the
rich and powerful.
   His self-centeredness overshadows his patriotism.
Placido Penitente and Pecson
   They are the students who asked for educational reforms.
   They represent the people who have yet to cultivate their nationalistic attitude.
Father Irene
   He is a kind friar who is a friend of the Filipino students. He supports the students
who appeal to the government for an academy of Spanish language.
   He embodies the few Spaniards who are sympathetic to the Filipinos.
Father Florentino
   He is a retired scholarly and patriotic Filipino priest.
   He believes that the Philippines will have its freedom.
Kabesang Tales
   Juli's father.
   The friars dispossessed him of his land; in real life, Rizal's father met the same
fate.
   He symbolizes the natives and farmers whose lands were seized by the friars.
   His story presents the cause of the revolution.
Maria Clara
   She is Ibarra's girlfriend.
   She enlisted in the nunnery when she learned that Ibarra was already dead.
Simoun planned to sneak her out of the convent; she died before the plan was put to
action.
Doña Victorina
   She is the ridiculously pro-Spanish woman who is going to Laguna in search of her
henpecked husband.
   Her search for her husband symbolizes her search for the foreign identity that she
 did not have.
Juli
   Basilio's sweetheart.
   Chose death over the loss of honor and dignity.
   She represents the Philippines which would rather suffer with pride and honor.
Paulita Gomez
   The beautiful niece of Doña Victorina.
   She rejected Isagani because of his liberal ideas.
   She represents the women who have no sense of nationalism and sympathy
towards others.

CONTENT SUMMARY
El Filibusterismo Summary Crisostomo Ibarra is back and as Simoun. During the period
in between the story line of Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo which is 13 years,
Ibarra left the Philippines and became a wealthy jeweler. He came back to the
Philippines as Senor Simoun, disguised with a beard. He seems to have long
abandoned his once vision of ending the despotism of Spain with words and peace. He
becomes hungry for vengeance for all the misfortune our country has suffered under the
tyranny of the Spaniards . And near the end of the novel, when he discovers that his
lover, Maria Clara, died in the convent, he becomes all the more furious. Simoun is a
confidant of the Captain-General. He encourages the government to make bad
decisions and to abuse their power so that it would spark a revolution among the
masses. Basilio, now all grown up, is at first reluctant to join in on Simoun’s idea but
ends up being part of the plan. Simoun started planning uprisings and stashed guns in
the shop of an ally. At the wedding reception of newlyweds (the bride being the ex-
girlfriend of one of the friends of Basillo—Isagani), Simoun tells Basilio that his plan was
to conceal an explosive which contains nitroglycerin inside a pomegranate-styled
Kerosene lamp that Simoun will give to the newlyweds as a gift during the wedding
reception. The reception will take place at the former home of the late Captain Tiago,
which was now filled with explosives planted by Simoun. According to Simoun, the lamp
will stay lighted for only 20 minutes before it flickers; if someone attempts to turn the
wick, it will explode and kill everyone—important members of civil society and the
Church hierarchy—inside the house. Simoun leaves the reception early and leaves a
note with the words: “Mene Thecel Phares” which means “the future is predetermined”
and is generally implied that a bad event is going to happen. Simoun signed it with his
real name “Juan Crisostomo Ibarra”. The people at the reception were shocked
because Ibarra is supposedly dead. One of the priests who knew Ibarra before the
ending of Noli Me Tangere confirmed to the people that it was the writing of Ibarra. The
lamp started to dim… Outside the house, Basilio was about to walk away because he
knew the lamp was going to explode anytime soon when he saw Isagani, the still heart-
broken ex-boyfriend of the bride whose reception was still going on in the house of
Capitan Tiago. Isagani said that he just wanted to congratulate the newly-weds. Basilio
who then feared for the safety of his friend told him about the plan of Simoun. Isagani
ran to the house. A priest was about to fix the lamp but once Isagani got in, he found the
lamp and threw it out the window into the river outside the residence. Since the guards
were chasing Isagani, he himself jumped out of the window into the river as well. There
was an uprising planned by Simoun during the time of the reception. The band got
caught and confessed that Simoun lead them. Ibarra was now wanted both as himself
and as Simoun. Days passed and a good priest found Simoun walking along the shore,
wounded and weak. The noble priest tended to Simoun while the latter explained that
he is Ibarra and that he was greatly saddened and angry due to the failure of the
revolution and that he was questioning God as to why he was the one who is suffering
and not the ones who have forsaken the people of the Philippines. The priest explains
that all punishments will come in due time. Ibarra died as he weakly held the hand of the
priest. The latter blessed the former and threw away all the remaining jewels of Ibarra in
the hopes that they may always be used for good.

REFLECTION
El Filibusterismo is far more dark and brutal. This novel can really make me a better
person because the novel’s message is violence is never the answer. The novel’s plot
shows that. At first, Simoun is planning to rescue Maria Clara by all means necessary.
That means even if he has to use force, he will do it just to achieve his goal, contrary to
what Ibarra believed in. At the end, Jose Rizal showed that violence is never the answer
in Simoun’s death and Father Florentino’s lamentations. The final event really showed
that violence is never the answer to anything. It is just a way to create and replace the
old problem with a new one.

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