Noli Me Tángere, Latin for

"Touch me not", is an 1887

novel by José Rizal during
the colonization of the
Philippines by the Spanish
Empire to describe perceived
inequities of the Spanish
Catholic friars and the
ruling government.
 MAIN
CHARACTERS
JUAN CRISÓSTOMO IBARRA Y
MAGSALIN (IBARRA)
A wealthy young mestizo who has
just returned to the Philippines after
seven years of studying in Europe,
Ibarra is sophisticated, highly
esteemed, and very idealistic. The
priests of San Diego all view him
with great wariness on account of his
highly liberal education and
connections.
His father, the equally idealistic
Don Rafael, was labeled a
subversive and a heretic by the
corrupt priesthood and
incarcerated, ultimately leading to
his death. Ibarra hopes to create a
school in San Diego in order to
carry out his father's dreams and
ideals, but he becomes entangled
in conflicts with the church and is
forced to flee
San Diego as a result of a
conspiracy led by the scheming
Father Salví. In contrast to his
more radical friend Elías, Ibarra
generally wants to work within
systems to reform the Philippines,
rather than overthrow them, but he
shifts towards Elías's beliefs as the
novel progresses.
 MARÍA CLARA
A woman of high social standing,
she is thought to be the daughter
of Capitan Tiago and goddaughter
of Father Dámaso. She is actually
the biological daughter of Father
Dámaso, the product of a
scandalous relationship between
the old priest and Capitan Tiago’s
wife. María Clara grew up
alongside
Ibarra and planned to marry him,
but Father Dámaso disapproved of
the union. After Ibarra is
excommunicated from the church,
her guardians set her up to be wed
to Linares, a wealthy young man
of Spanish descent, and she tries to
go along with the plan to avoid
hurting her father, the weak-willed
Capitan Tiago.
When Ibarra is put on trial for
sedition, she is coerced into
surrendering the letters Ibarra
has sent her as evidence of his
guilt. Ultimately, when she
hears of Ibarra's apparent
death, she refuses to marry
Linares and joins a convent.
 FATHER DÁMASO
Father Dámaso is an old, power-
hungry, and shamelessly corrupt
Spanish priest who has lived
among the native Filipinos for
nearly two decades. In spite of
having spent all that time among
them, the years have done nothing
to endear him or develop any
sympathy in him for his “flock.”
 He is deeply racist, as well as
petty and vindictive, and he thinks
nothing of using his considerable
influence to ruin the lives of those
who have slighted him, regardless
of how small the offense is. He
masterminded the death of Don
Rafael Ibarra, then brazenly
taunted the younger Ibarra.
 After he publically insults
Ibarra's father, Ibarra attacks
him and he excommunicates
Ibarra from the church. He is
also the godfather (and, in fact,
the biological father) of María
Clara, giving him influence
over her relationship with
Ibarra.
 ELÍAS
A mysterious character, Elías is a
man on the run from the law who
resents both the Spanish colonial
government and the Catholic
Church, despite his strong
religious convictions. He crosses
paths with the more temperate
Ibarra when Ibarra bravely saves
him from a crocodile.
 Elías uncovers a plot against
Ibarra's life and works closely
with him throughout the
second half of the novel. He
and Ibarra have several long
conversations regarding the
ethics of politics and
governance, with Elias taking
a more revolutionary stance.
 FATHER SALVÍ
A younger, more cunning Spanish
priest who assumes control over
Father Damaso’s post as friar
curate of San Diego. He is in many
regards more dangerous that his
precursor as he is a more gifted
strategist who uses his religious
role for political influence as well
as personal vendettas.
He frequently fights with the
town's ensign for power. His
most significant role in the
novel comes through his plot
to ruin Ibarra, who is engaged
to María Clara, who he is in
love with.
 CAPTAIN TIAGO (DON
SANTIAGO DE LOS SANTOS)
Capitan Tiago is a rarity in that he
is a wealthy Filipino who is
native-born. He keeps close ties
with high-ranking members of the
Catholic Church, despite actually
having no respect for religion, and
shamelessly joins in others' racist
insults against his own people.
His primary concern is to marry off
his daughter, María Clara, to an
affluent man from an influential
family. This is one of the main
reasons that he is quick to toss aside
his loyalties to Ibarra when he is
labeled a subversive. His predilection
for advantageous social pairings
makes him quick to assent to Linares
as a potential new match for his
daughter.
 THE ENSIGN
The nameless head of the Civil
Guard of the township of San
Diego. A man of Spanish
descent, he is in a constant bitter
feud with Father Salví to gain
power in the town. He imposes
curfews that make it all but
impossible for the citizens of
San Diego to attend mass at the
proper schedule.
He drinks excessively and is
married to Doña Consolación,
who he frequently fights with.
 DOÑA CONSOLACIÓN
The pugnacious wife of The
Ensign, Doña Consolación is
an older Filipina woman who
is ashamed of her heritage
and pretends to be unable to
speak Tagalog, her own
native language.
She fights with her husband
frequently and makes many
of her husband's decisions for
him. Despite being described
as very ugly, she is proud and
demands respect from others.
 DON RAFAEL IBARRA
Crisóstomo Ibarra’s father is
posthumously mentioned in the
novel. A critic of the corrupt
practices of the Spanish friars, he
earns the ire of the vitriolic
Father Dámaso, who accuses him
of sedition and heresy. He dies in
prison before his name can be
cleared.
 His remains are buried in the
Catholic cemetery in the
town of San Diego, but
Father Dámaso hires a
gravedigger to disinter his
body to have him buried at
the Chinese cemetery
because of his status as a
heretic.
 CRISPÍN
A young boy studying to be a
church caretaker, Crispín and his
brother Basilio work ceaselessly
to send support money to their
beleaguered mother, Sisa. Crispín
is blamed for stealing money
from the church coffers by the
head sexton and is kept a virtual
prisoner until the debt is paid.
 On the night that he and his
brother were to visit their mother,
the head sexton keeps them until
the curfew, effectively barring the
brothers from travelling. The head
sexton beats him and he is never
seen again afterward, presumably
dying at the hands of the cruel
head sexton, though another
church official claims he escaped.
 BASILIO
Basilio is Crispín's older brother.
Like his younger brother, he works
as a sexton. Basilio makes a
desperate run for their home the
night Crispín is dragged away and
attempts to locate his younger
brother the day after, but his search
efforts are fruitless. The following
day, the Civil Guard comes looking
for him and his brother.
Fearing for his life, he runs to the
forest where he goes into hiding,
living with kind family until
Christmas Eve. When he finally
locates Sisa, he learns that she
has gone mad from grief and is
thus unable to identify him as her
son. He follows her to the forest,
where she regains her wits
temporarily and then dies from
the shock.
 DOCTOR TIBURCIO
DE ESPADAÑA
A fraud and a hustler, the
Spaniard who calls himself
Doctor Tiburcio de Espadaña was
actually a customs officer who
was dismissed from his post
shortly after arriving in the
Philippines. Despite having no
medical experience, he travels the
countryside posing as a doctor,
charging extortionate fees for his
so-called services after his wife
encourages him to pretend to be a
doctor. His patients eventually
catch wind of his schemes and he
is forced to relocate to another
area where he is all but unknown.
He finds his way to San Diego,
where he resumes his fake
medical practice.
 LA DOCTORA VICTORINA
DE LOS REYES DE ESPADAÑA
A brazen and determined Filipina
social climber, Doña Victorina is the
spouse of the counterfeit doctor,
Tiburcio de Espadaña. She is well
past her prime and relies on garish
make-up to carry on a façade of
youth. She eagerly tries to marry off
her nephew to María Clara, likely as
a means to further advance her
social status.
 LT. GUEVARA
A morally upright man of Spanish
descent who holds both Crisóstomo
Ibarra and the late Don Rafael in high
esteem, he is also the lieutenant of the
Civil Guard. He is one of the few
who openly support the Ibarras and is
vocal about his dislike of Father
Dámaso’s control. He informs
Crisóstomo Ibarra of the fate of his
father and how Father Damaso was
involved in his death.
 LINARES
Dr. de Espadaña’s nephew, a
respectable young Spanish
man. Like his uncle, he has
forged credentials and hopes
to climb through the social
ranks.
 THE SCHOOLMASTER
A teacher that Don Rafael
housed, thus allowing him to
suitably attend to the task of
instructing students; he
informs Crisóstomo Ibarra of
the sorry state of education of
San Diego since the passing
of his father.
 The friars closely watch the
material being taught in the
school, forbidding him from
teaching Spanish. The
schoolmaster is grateful to the
Ibarra family, but he is not
hopeful that he’ll make
headway in getting any
lasting educational reforms to
happen.
DON FILIPO (FILIPO LINO)
Don Filipo Lino is a
representative of the younger, less
religiously shackled generation of
movers and shakers in San Diego,
and he also serves as the vice
mayor of the town. He despises
the idea of spending lavish
amounts of money on the
numerous
feast days that mark the religious
calendar, seeing it as both
wasteful and burdensome to the
citizens. His words, however, fall
on deaf ears as he is only deputy
mayor, and the mayor himself is
a dedicated follower of the
Catholic church and the de facto
mouthpiece of the friars.
 THE MAYOR
Nothing more than a
marionette of the Catholic
priesthood, the unnamed
mayor of San Diego is very
conservative and bows down
to the religious officials of
the town.
 THE YELLOW MAN
An assassin tasked to kill
the younger Ibarra, his plot to
murder the young man is
thwarted by the cunning
Elias. He is given this
moniker for his permanently
sallow, jaundiced
complexion.
 SISA
The long-suffering mother of sextons-
in-training Crispin and Basilio, she
goes mad upon the loss of her sons.
Impoverished and married to a violent
drunkard, she is allied only with her
sons. She wanders the town, clothes
tattered and hair disheveled, calling
out for her sons. When she actually
does meet Basilio, she cannot
recognize him.
 FATHER SIBYLA
A priest serving in the Binondo
district in the city of Manila, Father
Sibyla serves as a foil to the otherwise
largely corrupt Father Dámaso and the
perverse Father Salví as he is rational
and calm. Father Sibyla is an adept and
shrewd orator who takes obvious
delight in antagonizing the pompous
Father Dámaso at Ibarra’s return party.
 AUNT ISABEL
A cousin of Capitan Tiago
who raised Maria Clara as
her own child after her
mother’s untimely death.
 Old Tasio (Don Anastasio)
An old man who previously
studied philosophy and is
believed to be crazy by most
of the community. He
respects Ibarra and gives him
valuable advice, and also
helped Ibarra's father before
him.
SUMMARY
 A young and idealistic Juan
Crisistomo Ibarra is welcomed by
a party in the house of Captain
Tiago, who after seven years of
studying in Europe returns to his
native land. His father Don
Rafael, a wealthy landowner
passed away shortly before his
return, and Crisóstomo soon
learns
 that he died in prison after
accidentally killing a tax
collector and being falsely
accused of other crimes by
Father Dámaso, the longtime
curate of the church in
Crisóstomo’s hometown of San
Diego. Crisóstomo returns to
San Diego, and his fiancée,
María Clara, joins him there
 After the schoolmaster tells
him that Father Dámaso and the
new curate, Father Salví,
interfere with his teaching,
Crisóstomo decides to build a
new modern school in San
Diego. Ibarra resolves to forego
all quarrels and to work for the
betterment of his people.
To show his good intentions, he
seeks to establish, at his own
expense, a public school in his
native town. He meets with
ostensible support from all,
especially Padre Damaso’s
successor, a young and gloomy
Franciscan named Padre Salvi,
for whom Maria Clara confesses
to an instinctive dread.
 On a picnic with María
Clara, Crisóstomo goes on a
fishing boat and helps the pilot,
Elías, kill a crocodile. Elías
later warns Crisóstomo that
there is a plot to murder him at
the ceremony for the laying of
the school’s cornerstone, and
indeed, as Crisóstomo is
placing mortar for the
cornerstone,
the derrick holding the stone
collapses. Although Crisóstomo
escapes injury, the derrick
operator is killed. At a dinner
later, Father Dámaso insults the
new school, Filipinos in general,
Crisóstomo, and Don Rafael. An
enraged Crisóstomo attacks him,
but María Clara stops him from
killing the priest.
 Ibarra is excommunicated,
and Capitan Tiago, through his
fear of the friars, is forced to
break the engagement and agree
to the marriage of Maria Clara
with a young and inoffensive
Spaniard provided by Padre
Damaso. Obedient to her
reputed father’s
 command and influenced by
her mysterious dread of Padre
Salvi, Maria Clara consents to
this arrangement, but becomes
seriously ill, only to be saved by
medicines sent secretly by
Ibarra and clandestinely
administered by Sinang.
 Ibarra succeeds in having the
excommunication removed, but
before he can explain matters, an
uprising against the Civil Guard
is secretly brought about through
agents of Padre Salvi, and the
leadership is ascribed to Ibarra to
ruin him. It was Father Salví
plots with Lucas, the brother of
the deceased derrick operator,
 to organize a strike on the
barracks of the Civil Guard and
to convince the attackers that
Crisóstomo is their ringleader.
Father Salví then warns the head
of the Civil Guard of the
impending assault. When the
attack fails, the rebels say that
Crisóstomo was their leader.
Crisistomo is warned by a
mysterious friend, an outlaw
called Elias, whose life he had
accidentally saved; but desiring
first to see Maria Clara, he
refuses to make his escape, and
when the outbreak page occurs,
he is arrested as the instigator of
it and thrown into prison in
Manila.
 On the evening when Capitan
Tiago gives a ball in his Manila
house to celebrate his supposed
daughter’s engagement, Ibarra
makes his escape from prison
and succeeds in seeing Maria
Clara alone. He begins to
reproach her because it is a letter
written to her before he went to
Europe which forms the basis of
the charge against him, but she
clears herself of treachery to
him. The letter had been
secured from her by false
representations and in exchange
for two others written by her
mother just before her birth,
 which proves that Padre
Damaso is her real father. These
letters had been accidentally
discovered in the convento by
Padre Salvi, who made use of
them to intimidate the girl and
get possession of Ibarra’s letter,
from which he forged others to
incriminate the young man.
 She tells him that she will
marry the young Spaniard,
sacrificing herself thus to save
her mother’s name and Capitan
Tiago’s honor and to prevent a
public scandal, but that she will
always remain true to him.
 Ibarra’s escape had been
affected by Elias, who conveys
him in a banka up the Pasig to
the Lake, where they are so
closely beset by the Civil
Guard that Elias leaps into the
water and draws the pursuers
away from the boat, in which
Ibarra lies concealed.
 On Christmas Eve, at the
tomb of the Ibarras in a gloomy
wood, Elias appears, wounded
and dying, to find there a boy
named Basilio beside the corpse
of his mother, a poor woman
who had been driven to insanity
by her husband’s neglect and
abuses on the part of the Civil
Guard, her younger son having
page
 disappeared some time before in
the convento, where he was a
sacristan. The latter was driven to
insanity when she learned that her
children were implicated for theft
by the sacristan mayor. Elias
instructed Basilio to dig for his
and Sisa’s graves and there is a
buried treasure which he can use
for his education.
 Upon learning of the reported
death of Ibarra in the chase on
the Lake, Maria Clara becomes
disconsolate and begs her
supposed godfather, Fray
Damaso, to put her in a nunnery.
Unconscious of her knowledge
of their true relationship, the
friar breaks down and confesses
that all the
trouble he has stirred up with
the Ibarras has been to prevent
her from marrying a native,
which would condemn her and
her children to the oppressed
and enslaved class. He finally
yields to her entreaties and she
enters the nunnery of St. Clara,
to which Padre Salvi is soon
assigned in a ministerial
capacity.
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