OVERVIEW

Noli Me Tángere (Latin for "Touch me not";) is an 1887 novel by Filipino writer

and activist José Rizal published during the Spanish colonial period of the Philippines. It
explores perceived inequities in law and practice in terms of the treatment by the ruling
government and the Spanish Catholic friars of the resident peoples a hundred years
ago.
Originally written by Rizal in Spanish, the book has since been more commonly
published and read in the Philippines in either Tagalog (the major indigenous language),
or English. The Rizal Law requires Noli and its sequel, El filibusterismo to be read by
all high school students throughout the country. Noli is studied in Grade 9 and El
filibusterismo in Grade 10. The two novels are widely considered to be the national
epic of the Philippines. They have been adapted in many forms, such as operas,
musicals, plays, and other forms of art.
The title originates from the Biblical passage John 20:13-17 by Jesus to Mary
Magdalene when she recognized him after his resurrection. The biblical scene has been
portrayed in numerous works of Christian art from Late Antiquity to the present. The
phrase has also been used in literature, and later in a variation by military units since
the late 18th century. In Rizal's time it also referred to cancers that occurred on the face,
particularly cancers of the eyelid; touching such lesions irritated them, causing pain. As
an ophthalmologist, Rizal was familiar with the cancer and the name. [2] He is explicit
about the connection in the novel's dedication, which begins: A mi patria ('To my
country')   and continues with "...a cancer of so malignant a character that the least touch
irritates it and awakens in it the sharpest pains." Rizal probes the cancers of Filipino
society.[4] Early English translations of the novel used different titles, such as An Eagle
Flight (1900) and The Social Cancer (1912), but more recent English translations use
the original title.

PRESENTATION OF CHARACTERS

 Juan Crisóstomo Ibarra y Magsalin (Ibarra)

o A wealthy young man of mixed Spanish and Filipino ancestry who has
recently returned to the Philippines from Europe after spending seven
years studying abroad. Ibarra is cultured and well-respected, though the
friars in his time.
 María Clara
o A woman well-regarded in San Diego for her high social station. Having
grown up together as childhood friends, María Clara and Ibarra are
engaged to be married, though Father Dámaso—her godfather—is
displeased with this one.

 Father Dámaso
o A Spanish friar living in the Philippines, Father Dámaso is an arrogant and
pedantic priest who, despite having lived amongst Filipinos and hearing
their confessions for over twenty years, is barely able to speak or talk.

 Elías
o An outlaw and vagabond revolutionary who resents the power the Catholic
church and Spanish government have over the Philippines.
After Ibarra saves his life from a vicious crocodile, Elías swears to protect
the young man.

 Father Salví
o A serious and committed Spanish friar who takes over Father Dámaso’s
post in San Diego as the town’s priest. Fray Salví is a meticulous and
cunning man who uses his religious stature for political issues.
 Captain Tiago (Don Santiago de los Santos)
o A Filipino socialite and well-respected member of the country’s wealthy
elite. Close with high-ranking clergy members like Father Salví and Father
Dámaso, Captain Tiago is one of the richest property owners in Manila.

 The Ensign
o A Spaniard in charge of the Civil Guard in San Diego. The ensign has a
bitter relationship with Father Salví, since he thinks Father Salví takes his
position too seriously.
 Old Tasio (Don Anastasio)
o An old man who used to study philosophy and who prefers secular
knowledge to Catholicism. This atheistic worldview attracts attention from
the friars and pious townspeople, who call him a “madman”.

 Don Rafael Ibarra

o Ibarra’s father, who has died before the novel’s opening pages. Ibarra
learns from a sympathetic friend of his father’s, Lieutenant Guevara, that
Don Rafael perished in prison after Father Dámaso accused him.

 Crispín
o A very young boy studying to be a sexton, or a caretaker of the church.
Crispín and his brother Basilio work tirelessly to send money home to their
mother, Sisa.

 Basilio
o Crispín’s older brother, who is also training to be a sexton. When Crispín
is dragged away, Basilio tries to find him unsuccessfully. Despite the
town’s curfew, he runs home to his mother and spends.

 Doctor Tiburcio de Espadaña

o A Spaniard who speaks with a stutter and looks significantly older than his
thirty-five years. Don Tiburcio came to the Philippines as a customs
officer, but was dismissed upon his arrival.

 La Doctora Victorina de los Reyes de Espadaña

o A Filipina woman married to Don Tiburcio. Above all else, Doña Victorina
cares about her image as a beautiful and admired socialite, though she is
actually—as Rizal goes out of his way to emphasize—past.

 Doña Consolación
 o An older Filipina woman married to the ensign. Doña Consolación is a
brutal, vulgar partner who berates the ensign, engaging him in intense
physical fights heard across the town.

 Señor Guevara
o An elderly lieutenant of the Civil Guard who deeply respects
both Ibarra and the late Don Rafael. Guevara tells Ibarra that he
appreciated his father’s conviction and moral compass, which went
against the church

 The Captain General

o An unnamed representative of Spain, and the highest government official
in the Philippines. Civil Guard members, townspeople, and friars alike
deeply respect him and defer to his judgment.

 Linares
o Doctor de Espadaña’s nephew from Spain. Linares has a law degree and
is the most intelligent member of the de Espadaña family, a fact that
endears him to Doña Victorina.

 The Schoolmaster
o A teacher whom Don Rafael supported, helping him find a house and
enabling him to properly do his job. The schoolmaster tells Ibarra about
the unfortunate circumstances in San Diego surrounding education, which
greatly inhibit.

 Don Filipo (Filipo Lino)

o The deputy mayor of San Diego. Don Filipo is described as “almost liberal”
and represents the informal party of the younger, more open-minded
generation. Like his followers, he resents the idea that the town should.

 The Mayor
 o The mayor of San Diego is a conservative man who is devoted to religion.
The mayor allows himself to be manipulated by the church, thinking
himself a pious man. As such, anybody accused of heresy.

 The Yellow Man

o A man hired to kill Ibarra. This man helps build the school, engineering a
large stone that he intends to drop on Ibarra on the day of San Diego’s
fiesta..

 Társilo
o A man whose father died at the hands of the Civil Guard. Lucas convinces
Társilo and his brother Bruno to attack the military barracks, telling them
that Ibarra is organizing the rebellion.

Minor Characters

 Sisa
o Crispín and Basilio’s mother, who goes crazy after losing her boys. Sisa
wanders the town and forests in vain, hoping to find her children, though
when she actually meets Basilio, she is apparently unable to recognize
him at first. When she does, she dies of surprise and happiness.
 Father Sibyla
o A priest in Binondo, a district in Manila. Sibyla is a skillful and sly debater
who agitates Father Dámaso at Ibarra’s welcome-home party. He is an
even-tempered, rational religious figure that contrasts the absurd Dámaso
and the corrupt Salví.
 Captain Basilio
o Sinang’s father, a pedantic man who is the speaker of San Diego’s
conservative party. An enemy and rival of Don Rafael, Basilio fashions
himself after famous Roman orators, advocating for a strict adherence to
the church.
 Lucas
o The Yellow Man’s brother. Wanting revenge on Ibarra, he teams up
with Father Salví to frame the young man as the ringleader of the group of
bandits that attacks the military barracks.
 Captain Pablo
o The leader of the band of “persecuted” men who want revenge on the Civil
Guard. Elías meets with Pablo and asks him to delay his plan to attack
civilization, convincing him that it would be best if Ibarra represented them
so they can achieve their goals nonviolently.
 Bruno
o Társilo’s brother, who dies the night of the barracks attack. Before his
death, Bruno repeats what Lucas has told him—namely, that Ibarra is the
leader of the rebellion.
 Aunt Isabel
o Captain Tiago’s cousin, and the woman who raised María Clara after her
mother’s death during childbirth.
 Captain Tinong
o A friend of Captain Tiago’s. Like Tiago, Tinong only cares about his own
image. When it seems as though Tiago’s family has been disgraced
because of its association with Ibarra, he quickly turns his back on his
friend.
 The Chief Sexton
o The man in charge of taking care of the church. The sexton essentially
does Father Salví’s dirty work, like beating Crispín or hanging Lucas after
the attack on the barracks.
 Victoria
o One of María Clara’s friends, and one of her cousins.
 Andeng
 o One of María Clara’s friends. Andeng has known María Clara for a very
long time, having even shared the same wet-nurse as an infant.
 Sinang
o One of María Clara’s friends and cousins.
 Iday
o One of María Clara’s friends.
 The Gravedigger
o A cemetery worker who, on Father Dámaso’s orders, exhumes Don
Rafael’s body. Ibarra interrogates this man, desperate for information
about his father.

SUMMARY
Noli Me Tángere begins at a dinner party hosted by Captain Don Santiago
(Tiago), a wealthy resident of Manila. Guests assembled at the party include other
members of the upper class as well as friars of both the Dominican and Franciscan
orders. During dinner, Don Crisóstomo Ibarra arrives—the party being his first stop
post-returning from Europe. He is there to visit his fiancée María-Clara, Santiago’s
daughter. However, the celebratory atmosphere soon turns tense as one of the friars,
Father Dámaso, becomes angry at Ibarra’s arrival. After the party, Ibarra learns that
his father, Don Rafael, died while in prison and Father Dámaso had his corpse
exhumed and removed from the Christian cemetery (i.e., dumped into a river). The
dramatic tension between Ibarra and Dámaso forms the central conflict.

As Ibarra reacclimates himself to his homeland, he looks to apply his

progressive ideals to make life better for the citizens of San Diego. After meeting with
a school teacher, Ibarra’s first act is to build a school. While he gains support from the
local government, the religious order within the town views the project with suspicion.
They begin to see Ibarra as a threat to their power—with Dámaso in particular seeing
him as a rival who must be put in his place.

Ibarra and María-Clara’s relationship dates back to childhood. However,

Dámaso is the godfather of María-Clara and opposes the marriage. He wishes to drive
the two apart and eventually achieves. He arrives uninvited to a dinner party hosted by
Ibarra and dishonors the memory of his late father, which baits the latter into
retaliation. Ibarra physically attacks Dámaso, holding him at knife point and
threatening to kill him. María-Clara intervenes and prevents Ibarra from completing the
deed, but the damage is done. As punishment for the assault, Ibarra is
excommunicated and thus, the couple’s engagement is annulled.
 The Captain General, the King’s representative in the Philippines, intercedes on
Ibarra’s behalf. Once again, Dámaso and his colleague Father Salví are disgruntled
and see the Captain General’s respect for Ibarra as a threat to their power. Salví’s role
in the novel becomes more prominent after this incident, as he works on a scheme to
take down Ibarra once and for all.

Ibarra befriends Elías, a fellow Filipino who is involved with a subversive group
planning an uprising. Because Elías is knowledgeable of the town’s underground, he
is able to warn Ibarra of the attempts to have him framed and killed. Their friendship is
unusual as they are not of the same class, but they have mutual respect for each
other—and this respect enables them to strengthen their alliance.

Through no fault of his own, Ibarra’s life is turned upside down by the same
forces that claimed the life of his father. As the novel comes to a close, the progress
that Ibarra advocated for is put on hold. However, Dámaso suffers a private defeat as
María-Clara holds a secret against him, one that would destroy his reputation in town.
Dámaso is eventually moved out of San Diego and with him out of the way, the
possibility of reform is made more possible than ever.

UNDERSTANDING THE THEME OF NOLI ME TANGERE

 Freedom From Spain

“Noli Me Tangere,” the first novel written by the Philippine’s national hero Jose
Rizal, mirrors its creator’s persistence in attaining freedom from the Spaniards. True
enough, as Rizal aimed to redeem the country and its people by exposing the barbarity,
greed, cruelty and ignorance of the Spanish colonizers, his work reflected the struggles
of the Tagalogs — being the first to project such a bold account of living in the 1800s in
the Philippines. Likewise, as “Noli Me Tangere” portrays the different aspects of gaining
independence, Jose Rizal focuses on social climbers, abusive power, family devotion,
self sacrifice, and purity and faithfulness.

 Social Climbers

Representing the various classes of society during the late 1800s in the
Philippines, Jose Rizal includes personalities such as Doña Victorina and Capitan
Tiago. These characters, indeed, show how people tend to associate with higher
classes of society, specifically the Spaniards and the illustrados (“learned” ones)
and mestizos. Capitan Tiago, in this instance, portrays this character as he gives friars
lumps of money as ecclesiastical donations and even invites the parish curate at his
home every dinner. Aside from that, he also supports the government’s tax increases,
leading to his title of gobernadorcillo, the highest post a non-Spaniard can attain.
 Meanwhile, Doña Victorina’s character in the novel shows an obsession in
becoming Spanish. She does this by covering her face with too much makeup, dressing
just like Spanish women, speaking Spanish (though incorrectly), and basically promotes
the “colonial mentality” as she prefers being just like a Spaniard when in fact she is a
Filipino.

 Abusive Power

Having been colonized by Spaniards since the 1500s, the author depicts the
Filipinos suffering abuse from civil guards, friars and other government officials. Using
their power to mistreat civilians, the civil guards harass them because of simple causes,
such as not rendering the customary salute, not being able to show identification cards,
etc. The same goes with friars who commercialize religion through simony and plenary
indulgence. Government officials, likewise, make use of their power to control those
whom they believe would be detrimental to the Spanish rule. Just as Crisostomo Ibarra,
the main character in the novel, experiences this through the death of his father (Don
Rafael), this theme in “Noli Me Tangere” comes to life.

 Family Devotion

Never forgetting the positive qualities of the Filipinos, Jose Rizal still highlights
devotion to one’s family through Crisostomo Ibarra, Maria Clara and Sisa. With the
death of Don Rafael, Ibarra’s father, Crisostomo traces all means to seek for justice.
This is also true with Maria Clara, an obedient daughter to Capitan Tiago. Consenting to
her father’s request that she marry a Spaniard (as requested by Padre Damaso), Maria
Clara adheres to this (but gets very ill afterward). Sisa, on the other hand, definitely
shows her devotion to her family by doing everything to serve her family. Considering
her children (Basilio and Crispin) as her treasures, she endures the trials she goes
through just to keep them secure.

 Self-Sacrifice

Just as Jose Rizal sacrificed himself for his country, “Noli Me Tangere” also
conveys this message all throughout its text. Starting off with Sisa’s never-ending
sacrifices for her children, she withstands her husband’s beatings and even takes on
the journey of finding her sons, thereby showing her real love as a mother.

 Purity and Faithfulness

Maria Clara portrays purity and faithfulness as she remains true to her love for
Crisostomo Ibarra. Even though she is engaged to a Spaniard, she still does not submit
herself to him because of her undying love for Ibarra. Thus, she prefers to become a
nun and hence dies afterward when Padre Salvi rapes her.

 Patriotism
 Another very evident theme in the novel turns out to be patriotism. Portrayed by
Crisostomo Ibarra and Elias, these two men earnestly desire for independence from the
oppressors. Although different in their means for seeking reform, they both profess their
goals.

Since Elias resolves for a revolt against the Spaniards, he finds all means to lead
a revolution against the friars, civil guards and government officials. Believing that God
will bring forth justice over Filipinos depicts patriotism by all means.

All in all, “Noli Me Tangere” shall forever remain as one of the most powerful
tools the Philippines has ever had to spread awareness on the “social cancer” and to
fight for independence. As Jose Rizal used various themes to spread the word
regarding the battle against abusive power, injustice, false religious claims and other
inappropriate dealings with innocent people, the cause Rizal started more than a
hundred years ago shall endure.

References

Gagelonia, Pedro A. Rizal’s Life, Works, and Writings. National Bookstore, Inc., 1974.