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MODULE 3: NOVELS OF DR. JOSE P. RIZAL

LESSON 1

NOLI ME TANGERE

Learning outcome:

 Discuss the impact of the Noli Me Tangere in our National identity

DISCUSSION:

BACKGROUND:

The Title Noli Me Tangere is a Latin words which mean “Touch Me Not” and it was taken from
the verse of the new Testament John 20: 13-17 which runs as follows “ touch me not for I have
not ascended yet to my father.”
Having read Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe, an American writer who exposed
the evil of racism in America and the plight of the black American slaves . Rizal conceived of
writing a novel similar to that of Uncle Tom’s Cabin that would extol the life of the miserable
Filipinos under the administration of the Spaniards.
Rizal who was a student of medicine in the Universidad de Madrid suggested during a
reunion of Filipinos at the house of Pedro Paterno a cooperative effort of writing a novel. but this
did not materialized because the people who promised to cooperate did not write anything. What
they wanted to write was a story on women.
Dismayed with the attitudes of those who promised to cooperate, Rizal alone started the writing of
the novel. He finished a quarter(1/4) of the story in Madrid and another I/4 in Paris and the last
half in Berlin , Germany.
Rizal finished the novel in February 1887. At first, according to one of Rizal's biographers,
Rizal feared the novel might not be printed, and that it would remain unread. He was struggling
with financial constraints at the time and thought it would be hard to pursue the printing of the
novel.. he almost hurled the manuscript on fire, luckily a friend arrived . named Maximo Viola who
loaned him the amount needed.This helped him print the book at Berliner Buchdruckerei-
Aktiengesellschaft in Berlin. Rizal was initially hesitant, but Viola was insistent and ended up
Rizal to borrow ₱300 for 2,000 copies. The printing was finished earlier than the estimated five
months. Viola arrived in Berlin in December 1886, and by March 21, 1887, Rizal sent a copy of the
novel to his friend, Blumentrit

TITLE: NOLI ME TANGERE

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CHARACTERS

CRISÓSTOMO IBARRA
Juan Crisóstomo Ibarra y Magsalin, commonly referred to in the novel as Ibarra or Crisóstomo,
is the novel's protagonist. The mestizo (mixed-race) son of Filipino businessman Don Rafael Ibarra,
he studied in Europe for seven years. Ibarra is also María Clara's fiancé.

MARÍA CLARA.
Maria Clara de los Santos, commonly referred to as María Clara, is Ibarra's fiancée and the most
beautiful and widely celebrated girl in San Diego. [7] She was raised by Kapitán Tiago de los Santos,
and his cousin, Isabel. In the later parts of the novel, she was revealed to be an illegitimate
daughter of Father Dámaso, the former curate of the town, and Doña Pía Alba, Kapitán Tiago's wife,
who had died giving birth to María Clara
At the novel's end, a heartbroken yet resolved María Clara entered the Beaterio de Santa Clara (a
nunnery) after learning the truth of her parentage and mistakenly believing that her lover,
Crisóstomo, had been killed. In the epilogue, Rizal stated that it is unknown whether María Clara is
still living within the walls of the convent or is already dead.

KAPITÁN TIAGO
Don Santiago de los Santos, known by his nickname Tiago and political title KapitánTiago, is
said to be the richest man in the region of Binondo and possessed real properties
in Pampanga and Laguna de Baý. He is also said to be a good Catholic, a friend of the Spanish
government and thus was considered a Spaniard by the colonial elite. Kapitán Tiago never attended
school, so he became the domestic helper of a Dominican friar who gave him an informal education.
He later married Pía Alba from Santa Cruz.

PADRE DÁMASO
Dámaso Verdolagas, better known as Padre Dámaso, is a Franciscan friar and the former parish
curate of San Diego. He is notorious for speaking with harsh words, highhandedness, and his
cruelty during his ministry in the town. An enemy of Crisóstomo's father, Don Rafael Ibarra,
Dámaso is revealed to be María Clara's biological father. Later, he and María Clara had bitter
arguments on whether she would marry Alfonso Linares de Espadaña (which he preferred) or enter
the nunnery (her desperate alternative). At the end of the novel, he is again reassigned to a distant
town and later found dead in his bed.

ELÍAS
Elías is Ibarra's mysterious friend and ally. Elías made his first appearance as a pilot during a
picnic of Ibarra and María Clara and her friends.
The 50th chapter of the novel explores the past of Elías and history of his family. About sixty years
before the events of Noli Me Tángere, Elías's grandfather Ingkong in his youth worked as a
bookkeeper in a Manila office. One night the office burned down, and Don Pedro Eibarramendia, the
Spaniard owner, accused him of arson. Ingkong was prosecuted and upon release was shunned by
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the community as a dangerous lawbreaker. His wife Impong turned to prostitution to support
themselves but eventually they were driven into the hinterlands. There Impong bore her first son,
Balat.
Driven to depression, Ingkong hangs himself deep in the forest. Impong was sickly for lack of
nourishment in the forest and was not strong enough to cut down his corpse and bury him, and
Balat was then still very young. The stench led to their discovery, and Impong was accused of killing
her husband. She and her son fled to another province where she bore another son. Balat grew up
to be a bandit.
Eventually Balat's legend grew, but so did the efforts to capture him, and when he finally fell he was
cut limb by limb and his head was deposited in front of Impong's house. Seeing the head of her son,
Impong died of shock. Impong's younger son, knowing their deaths would somehow be imputed
upon him, fled to the province of Tayabas where he met and fell in love with a rich young heiress.
They have an affair and the lady got pregnant. But before they could marry, his records were dug
up. Then the father, who disapproved of him from the start, had him imprisoned. The lady gave
birth to Elías and his twin sister but died while the two were still children. Nonetheless, the twins
were well cared for, with Elías even going to Ateneo and his sister going to La Concordia, but as
they wanted to become farmers they eventually returned to Tayabas.
He and his sister grew up not knowing about their father, being told that their father had long died.
Elías grew up to be a young abusive brat who took particular joy in berating an elderly servant who,
nevertheless, always submitted to his whims. His sister was more refined and eventually was
betrothed to a fine young man. But before they could marry, Elías ran afoul with a distant relative.
The relative struck back by telling him about his true parentage. The verbal scuffle mounted to the
point where records were dug up, and Elías and his sister, as well as a good part of town, learned
the truth. The elderly servant who Elías frequently abused was their father.
The scandal caused the engagement of Elías' sister to break off. Depressed, the girl disappeared
one day and was eventually found dead along the shore of the lake. Elías himself lost face before his
relatives and became a wanderer from province to province. Like his uncle Balat he became a
fugitive and his legend grew, but by degrees he became the gentler, more reserved, and more noble
character first introduced in the novel.

PILÓSOPONG TASYO
Filósofo Tasio (Tagalog: Pilósopong Tasyo) was enrolled in a philosophy course and was a talented
student, but his mother was a rich but superstitious matron. Like many Filipino Catholics under
the sway of the friars, she believed that too much learning condemned souls to hell. She then made
Tasyo choose between leaving college or becoming a priest. Since he was in love, he left college and
married
Tasyo lost his wife and mother within a year. Seeking consolation and in order to free himself from
the cockpit and the dangers of idleness, he took up his studies once more. But he became so
addicted to his studies and the purchase of books that he entirely neglected his fortune and
gradually ruined himself. Persons of culture called him Don Anastacio, or Pilósopong Tasyo, while
the great crowd of the ignorant knew him as Tasio el Loco on account of his peculiar ideas and his
eccentric manner of dealing with others.
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Seeking for reforms from the government, he expresses his ideals in paper written in a
cryptographic alphabet similar from hieroglyphs and Coptic figures ]hoping "that the future
generations may be able to decipher it.

DOÑA VICTORINA
Doña Victorina de los Reyes de de Espadaña, commonly known as Doña Victorina, is an
ambitious Filipina who classifies herself as a Spaniard and mimics Spanish ladies by putting on
heavy make-up. The novel narrates Doña Victorina's younger days: she had lots of admirers, but
she spurned them all because none of them were Spaniards. Later on, she met and married Don
Tiburcio de Espadaña, an official of the customs bureau ten years her junior. However, their
marriage is childless.
Her husband assumes the title of medical "doctor" even though he never attended medical school;
using fake documents and certificates, Tiburcio illegally practices medicine. Tiburcio's usage of the
title Dr. consequently makes Victorina assume the title Dra. (doctora, female doctor). Apparently,
she uses the whole name Doña Victorina de los Reyes de de Espadaña, with double de to
emphasize her marriage surname. She seems to feel that this awkward titling makes her more
"sophisticated".

SISA, CRISPÍN, AND BASILIO

Sisa, Crispín, and Basilio represent a Filipino family persecuted by the Spanish authorities:
 Narcisa, or Sisa, is the deranged mother of Basilio and Crispín. Described as beautiful and
young, although she loves her children very much, she cannot protect them from the beatings of
her husband, Pedro.
 Crispín is Sisa's seven-year-old son. An altar boy, he was unjustly accused of stealing money
from the church. After failing to force Crispín to return the money he allegedly stole, Father
Salví and the head sacristan killed him. It is not directly stated that he was killed, but a dream
of Basilio's suggests that Crispín died during his encounter with Padre Salví and his minion.
 Basilio is Sisa's 10-year-old son. An acolyte tasked to ring the church's bells for the Angelus,
he faced the dread of losing his younger brother and the descent of his mother into insanity. At
the end of the novel, a dying Elías requested Basilio to cremate him and Sisa in the woods in
exchange for a chest of gold located nearby. He later played a major role in El filibusterismo.
Due to their tragic but endearing story, these characters are often parodied in modern Filipino
popular culture.
 Salomé is Elías' sweetheart. She lived in a little house by the lake, and though Elías would like
to marry her, he tells her that it would do her or their children no good to be related to a fugitive
like himself. In the original publication of Noli Me Tángere, the chapter that explores the identity
of Elías and Salomé was omitted, classifying her as a totally non-existent character. This
chapter, entitled Elías y Salomé, was probably the 25th chapter of the novel. However, recent
editions and translations of Noli include this chapter either on the appendix or as Chapter
X (Ex).

OTHER CHARACTERS

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There are a number of secondary and minor characters in Noli Me Tángere. Items indicated
inside the parenthesis are the standard Filipinization of the Spanish names in the novel.
 Padre Hernándo de la Sibyla – a Dominican friar. He is described as short and has fair skin. He
is instructed by an old priest in his order to watch Crisóstomo Ibarra.
 Padre Bernardo Salví – the successor of Padre Dámaso as the Franciscan curate of San Diego
who secretly lusts after María Clara. He is described to be very thin and sickly. It is also hinted
that his surname, "Salví", is the shorter form of "salvacion" ("salvation"), or that "Salví" is short
for "salvaje" ("savage", "wild"), hinting at the fact that he is willing to kill an innocent child,
Crispín, whom he accused of stealing money worth two onzas.
 El Alférez (Alperes) – the unnamed chief of the local Guardia Civil and husband of Doña
Consolación. He is the sworn enemy of the priests in the town's power struggle.
 Doña Consolación – wife of the Alférez, nicknamed as la musa de los guardias civiles ("the muse
of the Civil Guard") or la Alféreza. She was a former laundrywoman who passes herself as
a peninsular, and is best remembered for her abusive treatment of Sisa.
 Don Tiburcio de Espadaña – A Spanish quack doctor who is weak and submissive to his
pretentious wife, Doña Victorina.
 Tenyente Guevarra – a close friend of Don Rafael Ibarra. He reveals to Crisóstomo how Don
Rafael Ibarra's death came about.
 Alfonso Linares – A distant nephew of Tiburcio de Espadaña who would later become the fiancé
of María Clara. Although he presented himself as a practitioner of law, it was later revealed that
he is, like Don Tiburcio, a fraud. He later died from medications Don Tiburcio had given him.
 Tíya Isabel – Kapitán Tiago's cousin, who helped raise María Clara and served as a surrogate
mother figure.
 Governor-General (Gobernador-Heneral) – Unnamed in the novel, he is the most powerful
colonial official in the Philippines. He harbors great disdain for the friars and corrupt officials,
and sympathizes with Ibarra.
 Don Filipo Lino – vice mayor of the town of San Diego, leader of the liberals.
 Padre Manuel Martín – he is the linguist curate of a nearby town who delivers the sermon
during San Diego's fiesta.
 Don Rafael Ibarra – the deceased father of Crisóstomo Ibarra. Though he was the richest man
in San Diego, he was also the most virtuous and generous.
 Doña Pía Alba – wife of Kapitán Tiago and mother of María Clara; she died giving birth to her
daughter. Kapitán Tiago was supposedly the child's father, but in reality, Alba was raped by
Padre Dámaso.
 Don Pedro Eibarramendia – Crisóstomo Ibarra's Basque great-grandfather who falsely accused
Elías's grandfather and ruined his family. The surname was later shortened to Ibarra; hence,
Elías did not realize the relationship at first.
 Albino – a seminarian who follows Crisóstomo Ibarra in a picnic with María Clara's friends.
 Don Saturnino Eibarramendia – the father of Don Rafael and grandfather of Crisóstomo who is
said to have founded the town of San Diego when it was still a vast forest.

SUMMARY:

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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 accounting; Salví fearfully tells
Crisóstomo that the 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 danger, Crisóstomo jumps in as well, and

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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 In uncontrolled anger strikes the friar 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 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.
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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 and was thus the author of the misfortunes of Elías
and 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

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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 dawn of freedom for his people and that those who see it must welcome it and not forget
them that died in the darkness.
In the epilogue, Padre Dámaso is transferred to occupy a curacy in a remote town. Distraught, he is
found dead a day later. Kapitán Tiago fell into depression and became addicted to opium and is
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
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investigate the nun's case, but by then the abbess prohibited visits to the convent. Nothing more
was said again about María Clara.

Reaction
This novel and its sequel, El filibusterismo (nicknamed El fili), were banned by Spanish authorities
in the Philippines because of their allegations of corruption and abuse by the colonial government
and the Catholic Church. Copies of the book were nevertheless smuggled in and hidden, and when
Rizal returned to the Philippines after completing medical studies, he quickly ran afoul of the local
government. A few days after his arrival, Rizal was summoned to Malacañan Palace by Governor-
General Emilio Terrero, who told him of the charge that Noli Me Tangere contained subversive
elements. After a discussion, Terrero was appeased but still unable to offer resistance to pressure
from the Church against the book. The persecution can be discerned from Rizal's letter
to Leitmeritz:
My book made a lot of noise; everywhere, I am asked about it. They wanted to anathematize me ['to
excommunicate me'] because of it... I am considered a German spy, an agent of Bismarck, they say I
am a Protestant, a freemason, a sorcerer, a damned soul and evil. It is whispered that I want to
draw plans, that I have a foreign passport and that I wander through the streets by night...

Rizal was exiled to Dapitan in Mindanao, then later arrested for "inciting rebellion" based largely on
his writings. Rizal was executed by firing squad at the Luneta outside Manila's walls on December
30, 1896 at the age of thirty-five, at the park that now bears his name.

INFLUENCE ON FILIPINO NATIONALISM

Rizal depicted nationality by emphasizing the positive qualities of Filipinos: the devotion of a
Filipina and her influence on a man's life, the deep sense of gratitude, and the solid common sense
of the Filipinos under the Spanish regime.
The work was instrumental in creating a unified Filipino national identity and consciousness, as
many natives previously identified with their respective regions. It lampooned, caricatured and
exposed various elements in colonial society. Two characters in particular have become classics in
Filipino culture: María Clara, who has become a personification of the ideal Filipino woman, loving
and unwavering in her loyalty to her spouse; and the priest Father Dámaso, who reflects the covert
fathering of illegitimate children by members of the Spanish clergy. [citation needed]
The book indirectly influenced the Philippine Revolution of independence from the Spanish Empire,
even though Rizal actually advocated direct representation to the Spanish government and an
overall larger role for the Philippines within Spain's political affairs. In
1956, Congress passed Republic Act 1425, more popularly known as the Rizal Law, which requires
all levels in Philippine schools to teach the novel as part of their curriculum. Noli me tangere is
being taught to third year secondary school (now Grade 9, due to the new K-12 curriculum)
students, while its sequel El filibusterismo is being taught for fourth year secondary school (now
Grade 10) students. The novels are incorporated to their study and survey of Philippine literature.
[4]
Both of Rizal's novels were initially banned from Catholic educational institutions given its
negative portrayal of the Church, but this taboo has been largely superseded as religious schools
conformed to the Rizal Law.
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COMPREHENSION
CHECK

DIRECTION: Match column A to column B. Write the letter of your answer in the space provided

COLUMN A COLUMN B
1. Crisostomo Ibarra a. girl friend of Elias

2. Sisa b. The son of Sisa who escaped from the church

3. Elias c. A lady whose life is ruined by her drunkard and
gambler husband
4. Pilosopong Tasyo d. The heroine in the Noli Me Tangere
5. Kapitan Tiago e. An old man who is always misunderstood because
of his advance knowledge
6. Father Damaso f. The one who saved Ibarra in the collapsed of the
derrick during the groundbreaking of the school
house
7. Father Salvi g.. The character hero or protagonist of Noli Me
Tangere
8. Maria Clara h. The one who gave the letter to Maria Clara
containing her true identity.
9. Basilio i.The foster father of Maria Clara.
10. Salome j. The real father of Maria Clara.

ENRICHMENT
ACTIVITY

Discuss the impact of Noli Me Tangere in our national identity?

RUBRICS
5- Discussion is organized, each paragraph has a topic, examples are historically relevant and
details are explained’
4- Discussion is organized, each paragraph has a topic, examples are historically relevant and
details are not explained’
3- Discussion is organized, each paragraph has a topic, examples are historically relevant has no
details
2- Discussion is organized, each paragraph has a topic, some examples are not historically relevant
1- Discussion is organized, each paragraph has a topic, most examples are not historically
relevant.
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REFERENCES: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noli_Me_T%C3%A1ngere_(novel)
:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noli_Me_T%C3%A1ngere_(novel)

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LESSON 2
EL FILIBUSTERISMO
LEARNING OUTCOME:
 Discuss the episodes that prove El Fili is a political novel.
DISCUSSION:
BACKGROUND
While Rizal and his his family were suffering threats and oppression because of the Noli and the
so-called Calamba agrarian trouble, Rizal started writing El filibusterismo in October 1887 in
Calamba during his first homecoming.
When he was in London he changed the theme and plot of El Filibusterismo to convey the message
that the present system of government in the Philippines through corrupt officials, dominated by
the friars can lead to the downfall of Spain.
El Filibusterismo is a political novel full of bitterness, sorrow, pain, violence and vengeance to
awaken the Filipino people against the abusive masters. It bore an irresistible urge to revolution
among the Filipinos to go against the government and the practices of the church which appeared
realistic.
It brings a profound effect on Philippine society in terms of views about national identity, the
Catholic faith and its influence on Filipino's choice, and the government's issues of corruption,
abuse, and discrimination, and on a larger scale, the issues related to the effect of colonization on
people's lives.
El Filibusterismo was written in dedication to the three martyred priests Mariano Gomez, Jose
Burgos, and Jacinto Zamora, whose deaths left an indelible mark in his mind. Like Noli Me
Tangere, which is considered work of the heart , the El fili is considered work of the head which
also aims at enlightening the society, at bringing the Filipinos closer to the truth.
Jose Rizal’s , El Filibusterismo (Reign of Greed) was written in Spanish as a sequel to Noli Me
Tangere and has 38 chapters. It 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 Madrid and completed the book on March 29, 1891. Thus it toke him three years to finish the
novel El Filibusterismo .
THE PRINTING OF THE EL FILIBUSTERISMO.
When Rizal arrived in Ghent, he searched for a printing shop that could give the lowest price for the
publication of this novel. He found F MEYER_VAN LOO PRESS the cheapest and willing to print El
Fili on installment basis. During the printing Rizal thought of suspension of the printing because
he could no longer pay the printer, luckily a friend named Valentin Ventura in Paris learned of
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Rizal’s problem sent him the necessary funds so that the printing would resume. On September
18, 1891, the novel came off the press and he immediately sent copies to Basa in Hong Kong.

THE TITLE: THE REIGN OF GREED

El Filibusterismo ( transl. The filibusterism; The Subversive or The Subversion, as in the Locsín
English translation, are also possible translations), also known by its alternative English title The
Reign of Greed, is the second novel written by Philippine national hero José Rizal.

MAJOR CHARACTERS

Simoun – Crisóstomo Ibarra in disguise, presumed dead at the end of Noli Me Tángere. Ibarra has
returned as the wealthy jeweler Simoun. His appearance is described as being tanned, having a
sparse beard, long white hair, and large blue-tinted glasses. He was sometimes crude and
confrontational. He was derisively described by Custodio and Ben-Zayb as an American mulatto or
a British Indian. While presenting as the arrogant elitist on the outside, he secretly plans a violent
revolution in order to avenge himself for his misfortunes as Crisóstomo Ibarra, as well as hasten
Elias' reformist goals.

Basilio – son of Sisa and another character from Noli Me Tángere. In the events of El fili, he is an
aspiring and so far successful physician on his last year at university and was waiting for his
license to be released upon his graduation. After his mother's death in the Noli, he applied as a
servant in Kapitán Tiago's household in exchange for food, lodging, and being allowed to study.
Eventually he took up medicine, and with Tiago having retired from society, he also became the
manager of Tiago's vast estate. He is a quiet, contemplative man who is more aware of his
immediate duties as a servant, doctor, and member of the student association than he is of politics
or patriotic endeavors. His sweetheart is Juli, the daughter of Kabesang Tales whose family took
him in when he was a young boy fleeing the Guardia Civil and his deranged mother.

Isagani – Basilio's friend. He is described as a poet, taller and more robust than Basilio although
younger. He is the nephew of Padre Florentino, but is also rumored to be Florentino's son with his
old sweetheart before he was ordained as a priest. During the events of the novel, Isagani is
finishing his studies at the Ateneo Municipal and is planning to take medicine. A member of the
student association, Isagani is proud and naive, and tends to put himself on the spot when his
ideals are affronted. His unrestrained idealism and poeticism clash with the more practical and
mundane concerns of his girlfriend, Paulita Gomez. When Isagani allows himself to be arrested after
their association is outlawed, Paulita leaves him for Juanito Peláez. In his final mention in the
novel, he was bidding goodbye to his landlords, the Orenda family, to stay with Florentino
permanently.

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Father Florentino – Isagani's uncle and a retired priest. Florentino was the son of a wealthy and
influential Manila family. He entered the priesthood at the insistence of his mother. As a result he
had to break an affair with a woman he loved, and in despair devoted himself instead to his parish.
When the 1872 Cavite mutiny broke out, he promptly resigned from the priesthood, fearful of
drawing unwanted attention. He was an indio and a secular, or a priest that was unaffiliated with
the orders, and yet his parish drew in a huge income. He retired to his family's large estate along
the shores of the Pacific. He is described as white-haired, with a quiet, serene personality and a
strong build. He did not smoke or drink. He was well respected by his peers, even by Spanish friars
and officials.

Father Fernández – a Dominican who was a friend of Isagani. Following the incident with the
posters, he invited Isagani to a dialogue, not so much as a teacher with his student but as a friar
with a Filipino. Although they failed to resolve their differences, they each promised to approach
their colleagues with the opposing views from the other party – although both feared that given the
animosity that existed between their sides, their own compatriots may not believe in the other
party's existence.

Kapitán Tiago – Don Santiago de los Santos. María Clara's stepfather. Having several landholdings
in Pampanga, Binondo, and Laguna, as well as taking ownership of the Ibarras' vast estate, Tiago
still fell into depression following María's entry into the convent. He alleviated this by smoking
opium, which quickly became an uncontrolled vice, exacerbated by his association with Padre Írene
who regularly supplied him with the substance. Tiago hired Basilio as a capista, a servant who
given the opportunity to study as part of his wages; Basilio eventually pursued medicine and
became his caregiver and the manager of his estate. Tiago died of shock upon hearing of Basilio's
arrest and Padre Írene's embellished stories of violent revolt.

Captain-General – the highest-ranking official in the Philippines during the Spanish colonial
period. The Captain-General in El fili is Simoun's friend and confidant, and is described as having
an insatiable lust for gold. Simoun met him when he was still a major during the Ten Years' War in
Cuba. He secured the major's friendship and promotion to Captain-General through bribes. When
he was posted in the Philippines, Simoun used him as a pawn in his own power plays to drive the
country into revolution. The Captain-General was shamed into not extending his tenure after being
rebuked by a high official in the aftermath of Basilio's imprisonment. This decision to retire would
later on prove to be a crucial element to Simoun's schemes.

Father Bernardo Salví – the former parish priest of San Diego in Noli Me Tángere, and now the
director and chaplain of the Santa Clara convent. The epilogue of the Noli implies that Salví
regularly rapes María Clara when he is present at the convent. In El fili, he is described as her
confessor. In spite of reports of Ibarra's death, Salví believes that he is still alive and lives in
constant fear of his revenge.

Father Millon – a Dominican who serves as a physics professor in the University of Santo Tomas.

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Quiroga – a Chinese businessman who aspired to be a consul for China in the Philippines. Simoun
coerced Quiroga into hiding weapons inside the latter's warehouses in preparation for the
revolution.

Don Custodio – Custodio de Salazar y Sánchez de Monteredondo, a famous "contractor" who was
tasked by the Captain-General to develop the students association's proposal for an academy for
the teaching of Spanish, but was then also under pressure from the priests not to compromise their
prerogatives as monopolizers of instruction. Some of the novel's most scathing criticism is reserved
for Custodio, who is portrayed as an opportunist who married his way into high society, who
regularly criticized favored ideas that did not come from him, but was ultimately, laughably
incompetent in spite of his scruples.

Ben-Zayb – A columnist for the Manila Spanish newspaper El Grito de la Integridad. Ben-Zayb is
his pen name and is an anagram of Ybanez, an alternate spelling of his last name Ibañez. His first
name is not mentioned. Ben-Zayb is said to have the looks of a friar, who believes that in Manila
they think because he thinks. He is deeply patriotic, sometimes to the point of jingoism. As a
journalist he has no qualms embellishing a story, conflating and butchering details, turning
phrases over and over, making a mundane story sound better than it actually is. Father Camorra
derisively calls him an ink-slinger.

Father Camorra – the parish priest of Tiani. Ben-Zayb's regular foil, he is said to look like an
artilleryman in counterpoint to Ben-Zayb's friar looks. He stops at nothing to mock and humiliate
Ben-Zayb's liberal pretensions. In his own parish, Camorra has a reputation for unrestrained
lustfulness. He drives Juli into suicide after attempting to rape her inside the convent. For his
misbehavior he was "detained" in a luxurious riverside villa just outside Manila.

Father Írene – Kapitán Tiago's spiritual adviser. Along with Custodio, Írene is severely criticized as
a representative of priests who allied themselves with temporal authority for the sake of power and
monetary gain. Known to many as the final authority who Don Custodio consults, the student
association sought his support and gifted him with two chestnut-colored horses, yet he betrayed the
students by counseling Custodio into making them fee collectors in their own school, which was
then to be administered by the Dominicans instead of being a secular and privately managed
institution as the students envisioned. Írene secretly but regularly supplies Kapitán Tiago with
opium while exhorting Basilio to do his duty. Írene embellished stories of panic following the
outlawing of the student association Basilio was part of, hastening Kapitán Tiago's death. With
Basilio in prison, he then struck Basilio out of Tiago's last will and testament, ensuring he inherited
nothing.

Placido Penitente – a student of the University of Santo Tomas who had a distaste for study and
would have left school if it were not for his mother's pleas for him to stay. He clashes with his
physics professor, who then accuses him of being a member of the student association, whom the
friars despise. Following the confrontation, he meets Simoun at the Quiapo Fair.

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Seeing potential in Placido, Simoun takes him along to survey his preparations for the upcoming
revolution. The following morning Placido has become one of Simoun's committed followers. He is
later seen with the former schoolmaster of San Diego, who was now Simoun's bomb-maker.

Paulita Gómez – the girlfriend of Isagani and the niece of Doña Victorina, the old Indio who passes
herself off as a Peninsular, who is the wife of the quack doctor Tiburcio de Espadaña. In the end,
she and Isagani part ways, Paulita believing she will have no future if she marries him. She
eventually marries Juanito Peláez.
Characters from Barrio Sagpang:

Kabesang Tales – Telesforo Juan de Dios, a former kabesa of Barrio Sagpang in Tiani. He was a
sugarcane planter who cleared lands he thought belonged to no one, losing his wife and eldest
daughter in the endeavor. When the Dominicans took over his farm, he fought to his last money to
have it retained in his possession. While his suit against the Dominicans was ongoing, he was
kidnapped by bandits while he was out patrolling his fields. Having no money to pay his captors,
his daughter Juli was forced to become a maid in exchange for her mistress paying his ransom.
When his son Tano was conscripted into the Guardia Civil, again Tales had no money to pay for
Tano's exclusion from the draft. When in spite of all Tales lost the case, he not only lost his farm
but was also dealt with a heavy fine. He later joined the bandits and became one of their fiercest
commanders. Tandang Selo, his father, would later on join his band after the death of Juli.

Tandang Selo – father of Kabesang Tales and grandfather of Tano and Juli. A deer hunter and later
on a broom-maker, he and Tales took in the young, sick Basilio who was then fleeing from the
Guardia Civil. On Christmas Day, when Juli left to be with her mistress, Selo suffered some form of
stroke that impaired his ability to speak. After Juli's suicide, Selo left town permanently, taking
with him his hunting spear. He was later seen with the bandits and was killed in an encounter with
the Guardia Civil – ironically by the gun of the troops' sharpshooter Tano, his grandson.
Juli – Juliana de Dios, the girlfriend of Basilio, and the youngest daughter of Kabesang Tales. When
Tales was captured by bandits, Juli petitioned Hermana Penchang to pay for his ransom. In
exchange, she had to work as Penchang's maid. Basilio ransomed her and bought a house for her
family. When Basilio was sent to prison, Juli approached Tiani's curate, Padre Camorra, for help.
When Camorra tried to rape her instead, Juli jumped to her death from the church's tower.

Tano – Kabesang Tales's son, second to Lucia who died in childhood. He was nicknamed "Carolino"
after returning from Guardia Civil training in the Carolines. His squad was escorting prisoners
through a road that skirted a mountain when they were ambushed by bandits. In the ensuing
battle, Tano, the squad's sharpshooter, killed a surrendering bandit from a distance, not knowing it
was his own grandfather Selo.

Hermana Penchang – the one among the "rich folks" of Tiani who lent Juli money to ransom
Kabesang Tales from the bandits. In return, Juli will serve as her maid until the money was paid
off. Penchang is described as a pious woman who speaks Spanish; however, her piety was clouded
over by the virtues taught by the friars. While Juli was in her service, she made her work
constantly, refusing to give her time off so she can take care of her grandfather Selo. Nevertheless,

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when the rich folks of Tiani shunned Juli because to support her family in any way might earn
some form of retribution from the friars, Penchang was the only one who took pity upon her.

Hermana Báli – Juli's mother-figure and counselor. She accompanied Juli in her efforts to secure
Kabesang Tales' ransom and later on Basilio's release. Báli was a panguinguera – a gambler – who
once performed religious services in a Manila convent. When Tales was captured by bandits, it was
Báli who suggested to Juli the idea to borrow money from Tiani's wealthy citizens, payable when
Tales' legal dispute over his farm was won.
Student association for the teaching of Spanish:

Macaraig – the leader. He is described as wealthy, with his own coach, driver, and set of horses. He
is said to own several houses, and that he is lending one to serve as the schoolhouse for their
planned Spanish language academy. After the outlawing of the group, he was the first to post bail.
He then left the country after his releas

Sandoval – a Peninsular who had come to Manila as a government employee and was finishing his
studies, and who had completely identified himself with the cause of the Filipino students. After the
outlawing of the group, he still managed to pass his courses through sheer oratorical skill.

Pecson – described as chubby, pessimistic, and having an annoying grin. He is Sandoval's regular
foil when Sandoval launches into any kind of patriotic, optimistic speech. After they receive
disappointing news about their Spanish language academy project, it was Pecson who suggested a
torch-lit dinner at the Panciteria Macanista de Buen Gusto, just a block away from the Binondo
Church and Convent, served by naked Chinese waiters. From there Sandoval and Pecson became
more gracious to each other.

Tadeo – a truant and charlatan who regularly dreamed of an eternal "holiday" from school, but was
all the same beloved by professors and passed courses. A longtime Manila resident, he is seen
having fun by telling outrageous stories about himself to a newcomer student from his home
province. After the outlawing of the group, he alone seemed to welcome imprisonment as it meant
not going to school. His holiday realized at last, he "celebrated" by setting up a bonfire using his
books upon his release.

Juanito Peláez – Isagani's rival for Paulita Gomez's affection. He was the son of a Timoteo Peláez, a
metalworks trader. He was a favorite of his professors. A regular prankster, he was said to have
developed a hump by playing some trick and then hunching behind his classmates. He paid his
dues to the student association, but broke away just as easily when the association was outlawed.
Following Isagani's arrest, Paulita breaks off from Isagani to marry Juanito.

SUMMARY
El Filibusterismo  The filibusterism; The Subversive or The Subversion, as in the Locsín English
translation, are also possible translations), also known by its alternative English title The Reign of
Greed. the second novel written by Philippine national hero José Rizal. It is the sequel to Noli Me
Tángere and, like the first book, was written in Spanish. It was first published in 1891 in Ghent.
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The novel centers on the Noli-El fili duology's main character Crisóstomo Ibarra, now returning for
vengeance as "Simoun". The novel's dark theme departs dramatically from the previous novel's
hopeful and romantic atmosphere, signifying Ibarra's resort to solving his country's issues through
violent means, after his previous attempt in reforming the country's system made no effect and
seemed impossible with the corrupt attitude of the Spaniards toward the Filipinos.
The novel, along with its predecessor, was banned in some parts of the Philippines as a result of
their portrayals of the Spanish government's abuses and corruption. These novels, along with
Rizal's involvement in organizations that aimed to address and reform the Spanish system and its
issues, led to Rizal's exile to Dapitan and eventual execution. Both the novel and its predecessor,
along with Rizal's last poem, are now considered Rizal's literary masterpieces.
Both of Rizal's novels had a profound effect on Philippine society in terms of views about national
identity, the Catholic faith and its influence on the Filipino's choice, and the government's issues in
corruption, abuse of power, and discrimination, and on a larger scale, the issues related to the
effect of colonization on people's lives and the cause for independence. These novels later on
indirectly became the inspiration to start the Philippine Revolution.
Throughout the Philippines, the reading of both the novel and its predecessor is
now mandatory for high school students throughout the archipelago, although it is now read using
English, Filipino, and the Philippines' regional languages.

In the events of the previous novel, Crisóstomo Ibarra, a reform-minded mestizowho tried to

establish a modern school in his hometown of San Diego and marry his childhood sweetheart, was
falsely accused of rebellion and presumed dead after a shootout following his escape from prison.
Elías, his friend who was also a reformer, sacrificed his life to give Crisóstomo a chance to regain
his treasure and flee the country, and hopefully continue their crusade for reforms from abroad.
After a thirteen-year absence from the country, a more revolutionary Crisóstomo has returned,
having taken the identity of Simoun, a corrupt jeweler whose objective is to drive the government to
commit as much abuse as possible in order to drive people into revolution.

Simoun goes from town to town presumably to sell his jewels. In San Diego, he goes to the Ibarra
mausoleum to retrieve more of his treasure but accidentally runs into Basilio, who was then also in
the mausoleum visiting his mother's grave. In the years since the death of his mother, Basilio had
been serving as Kapitán Tiago's servant in exchange for being allowed to study. He is now an
aspiring doctor on his last year at university as well as heir to Kapitán Tiago's wealth. When Basilio
recognizes Simoun as Crisóstomo Ibarra, Simoun reveals his motives to Basilio and offers him a
place in his plans. Too secure of his place in the world, Basilio declines.

At Barrio Sagpang in the town of Tiani, Simoun stays at the house of the village's cabeza de
barangay, Tales. Having suffered misfortune after misfortune in recent years, Kabesang Tales is
unable to resist the temptation to steal Simoun's revolver and join the bandits.
In Los Baños, Simoun joins his friend, the Captain-General, who is then taking a break from a
hunting excursion. In a friendly game of cards with him and his cronies, Simoun raises the stakes

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higher and higher and half-jokingly secures blank orders for deportation, imprisonment, and
summary execution from the Captain-General.
In Manila, Simoun meets with Quiroga, [2] a wealthy Chinese businessman and aspiring consul-
general for the Chinese empire. Quiroga is heavily in Simoun's debt, but Simoun offers him a steep
discount if Quiroga does him a favor—to store Simoun's massive arsenal of rifles in Quiroga's
warehouses, to be used presumably for extortion activities with Manila's elite. Quiroga, who hated
guns, reluctantly agrees.
During the Quiapo Fair, a talking heads[3] exhibit[4] ostensibly organized by a certain Mr. Leeds but
secretly commissioned by Simoun is drawing popular acclaim. Padre Bernardo Salví, now chaplain
of the Convent of the Poor Clares, [5] attends one of the performances. The exhibit is setin Ptolemaic
Egypt but features a tale that closely resembled that of Crisóstomo Ibarra and María Clara, and
their fate under Salví. The show ends with an ominous vow of revenge. Deeply overcome with guilt
and fear, Salví recommends the show be banned, but not before Mr. Leeds sailed for Hong Kong.
Months pass and the night of Simoun's revolution comes. Simoun visits Basilio in Tiago's house
and tries to convince him again to join his revolution. Simoun's plan is for a cannon volley to be
fired, at which point Kabesang Tales, now a bandit who calls himself Matanglawin, and Simoun
who managed to deceive and recruit a sizable rogue force among the government troops, will lead
their forces into the city. The leaders of the Church, the University, scores of bureaucrats, the
Captain-General himself, as well as the bulk of officers guarding them are all conveniently located
in one location, the theater where a controversial and much-hyped performance of Les Cloches de
Corneville[6] is taking place. While Simoun and Matanglawin direct their forces, Basilio and several
others are to force open the door of the Convent of the Poor Clares and rescue María Clara.
However, Basilio reports to Simoun that María Clara died just that afternoon, killed by the travails
of monastic life under Salví, who always lusted after her. Simoun, driven by grief, aborts the attack
and becomes crestfallen throughout the night. It will be reported later on that he suffered an
"accident" that night, leaving him confined to his bed.
The following day posters threatening violence to the leaders of the university and the government
are found at the university doors. A reform-oriented student group to which Basilio belonged is
named the primary suspects; the members are arrested. They are eventually freed through the
intercession of relatives, except for Basilio who is an orphan and has no means to pay for his
freedom. During his imprisonment, he learns that Capitan Tiago has died, leaving him with nothing
(but Tiago's will was actually forged by Padre Írene, Tiago's spiritual advisor who also supplies him
with opium); his childhood sweetheart has committed suicide to avoid getting raped by the parish
priest when she tried asking for help on Basilio's behalf; and that he has missed his graduation and
will be required to study for another year, but now with no funds to go by. Released through the
intercession of Simoun, a darkened, disillusioned Basilio joins Simoun's cause wholeheartedly.
Simoun, meanwhile, has been organizing a new revolution, and he reveals his plans to a now
committed Basilio. The wedding of Juanito Peláez and Paulita Gomez will be used to coordinate the
attack upon the city. As the Peláez and Gomez families are prominent members of the Manila elite,
leaders of the church and civil government are invited to the reception. The Captain-General, who
declined to extend his tenure despite Simoun's urging, is leaving in two days and is the guest of
honor.

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Simoun will personally deliver a pomegranate-shaped crystal lamp as a wedding gift. The lamp is to
be placed on a plinth at the reception venue and will be bright enough to illuminate the entire hall,
which was also walled with mirrors. After some time the light will flicker as if to go out. When
someone attempts to raise the wick, a mechanism hidden within the lamp containing fulminated
mercury will detonate, igniting the lamp which is actually filled with nitroglycerin, killing everyone
in an enormous blast.
At the sound of the explosion, Simoun's mercenaries will attack, reinforced by Matanglawin and his
bandits who will descend upon the city from the surrounding hills. Simoun postulates that at the
chaos, the masses, already worked to a panic by the government's heavy-handed response to the
poster incident, as well as rumors of German ships at the bay to lend their firepower to any
uprising against the Spanish government, will step out in desperation to kill or be killed. Basilio
and a few others are to put themselves at their head and lead them to Quiroga's warehouses, where
Simoun's guns are still being kept. The plan thus finalized, Simoun gives Basilio a loaded revolver
and sends him away to await further instructions.
Basilio walks the streets for hours and passes by his old home, Kapitán Tiago's riverside house
on Anloague Street. He discovers that this was to be the reception venue – Juanito Peláez's father
bought Tiago's house as a gift for the newlywed couple. Sometime later, he sees Simoun enter the
house with the lamp, then hastily exit the house and board his carriage. Basilio begins to move
away but sees Isagani, his friend and Paulita Gomez's former lover, sadly looking at Paulita through
the window. Noting how close they were to the condemned house, Basilio tries to head Isagani off,
but Isagani was too dazed with grief to listen to him. In desperation, Basilio reveals to Isagani how
the house is set to explode at any time then. But when Isagani still refuses to heed him, Basilio
flees, leaving Isagani to his fate.
Seeing Basilio's demeanor, Isagani is temporarily, rather belatedly unnerved by the revelation.
Isagani rushes into the house, seizes the lamp leaving the hall in darkness, and throws it into the
river. With this, Simoun's second revolution fails as well.
In the following days, as the trappings at the reception venue are torn down, sacks containing
gunpowder are discovered hidden under the boards all over the house. Simoun, who had directed
the renovations, is exposed. With his friend, the Captain-General, having left for Spain, Simoun is
left without his protector and is forced to flee. A manhunt ensues and Simoun is chased as far away
as the shores of the Pacific. He then spends the rest of his days hiding in the ancestral mansion of
Padre Florentino, Isagani's uncle.
One day, the lieutenant of the local Guardia Civil informs Florentino that he received an order to
arrest Simoun that night. In response, Simoun drinks the slow-acting poison which he always kept
in a compartment on his treasure chest. Simoun then makes his final confession to Florentino, first
revealing his true name, to Florentino's shock. He goes on to narrate how thirteen years before, as
Crisóstomo Ibarra, he lost everything in the Philippines despite his good intentions. Crisóstomo
swore vengeance. Retrieving some of his family's treasure Elias buried in the Ibarra mausoleum in
the forest, Crisóstomo fled to foreign lands and engaged in trade. He took part in the war in Cuba,
aiding first one side and then another, but always profiting. There Crisóstomo met the Captain-
General who was then a major, whose goodwill he won first by loans of money, and afterwards by
covering for his criminal activity. Crisóstomo bribed his way to secure the major's promotion to
Captain-General and his assignment to the Philippines. Once in the country, Crisóstomo then used
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him as a blind tool and incited him to all kinds of injustice, availing himself of the Captain-
General's insatiable lust for gold.
The confession is long and arduous, and night has fallen when Crisóstomo finished. In the end,
Florentino assures the dying man of God's mercy, but explains that his revolution failed because he
has chosen means that God cannot sanction. Crisóstomo bitterly accepts the explanation and dies.
Realizing that the arresting officers will confiscate Crisóstomo's possessions, Florentino divests him
of his jewels and casts them into the Pacific, proclaiming that God will provide means to draw them
out if they should be needed for righteous causes, God will provide the means to draw them out and
that they will not be used to either distort justice or incite greed.

REFERENCES:https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/302595/el-filibusterismo-by-jose-
rizal/9780143106395/readers-guide/
Source: El filibusterismo - Wikipedia
https://www.google.com/search?
q=meanning+of+El+Filibusterismo&oq=meanning+of+El+Filibusterismo&aqs=chrome..69i57j0l5.155
06j1j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

COMPREHENSION
CHECK

1. When did Rizal start the writing of El Filibusterismo?

___________________________________________________________________________________________

2. Who is the savior of the El Filibusterismo?

___________________________________________________________________________________________
3. If the Noli is considered work of the heart, how about the Fili?
___________________________________________________________________________________________
4. How long did it take Rizal to write the El Filibusterismo?
___________________________________________________________________________________________
5. How many chapters the El Filibusterismo has?
__________________________________________________________________________________________
6. Who is the former fiancé of Paulita Gomez who saved her in the explosion of bomb?
__________________________________________________________________________________________
7. Who is the poor Spanish who came here in the Philippines to search for a rich girl to marry?
________________________________________________________________________________________
8. What is the purpose of Simoun in coming back in the Philippines?
__________________________________________________________________________________________
9. Who is the priest whom Simoun took refuge?
___________________________________________________________________________________________
10.What happened to simoun at the end of the story?
__________________________________________________________________________________________
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ENRICHMENT
ACTIVITY

Why is El Filibusterismo considered a political novel?

RUBRICS
5- Discussion is organized, each paragraph has a topic, examples are relevant and details are
Explained.
4- Discussion is organized, each paragraph has a topic, examples are relevant and details are not
Explained.
3- Discussion is organized, each paragraph has a topic, examples are relevant has no details
2- Discussion is organized, each paragraph has a topic, some examples are not relevant
1- Discussion is organized, each paragraph has a topic, most examples are not relevant.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

REFERENCES:

Capino, Diosdado, G. ,et.al. 1977., Rizal’s Life, Works and Writings: their Impact on our
National
Identity. JMC Press, Inc. Quezon City
Deleon, Hector S. et.al., 2011, Texbook on the Philippine Constitution ,Rex Book Store,
Manila
Maguigad, Rogelio B., et. Al., 2000, Jose Rizal; The First Filipino, Optimum Books,
Sta.Mesa,
Manila
Ocampo, A. R., 1990, Rizal Without the Overcoat, ANVIL Publishing, Inc. Pasig, Metro Manila

Zaide, Gregorio F. , et. Al., 2008, “Jose Rizal : Life, Woks and Writings of a genius, Writer,
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Scientist and national Hero” Second Edition., All-Nations Publishing Co., Inc.
Quezon
City

National Historical Institute, 2007, Jose Rizal’s Political and Historical Writings, Ermita,
Manila.
p. 130, p. 227

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