THE

WOMEN IN
RIZAL'S LIFE
Mark Jefferson Portem
Marc Joshua A. Penetrante
JOSE RIZAL

• José Protacio Mercado Rizal Alonzo Y

Realonda
• Born on June 19, 1861, in Calamba.

• Died on Dec. 30, 1896, in Manila

• His journey begins and ended with a

beautiful and heartbroken memoir…

THE WOMEN IN RIZAL'S LIFE
• There were at least nine women linked to Jose Rizal.

• These Jose Rizal women were Segunda Katigbak, Leonor Valenzuela,

Leonor Rivera, Consuelo Ortiga, O Sei San, Gertrude Beckett, Suzanne

Jacoby, Nellie Bousted, and Josephine Bracken.

• Jose Rizal, standing at 5 feet and 3 inches, was only a short man, but like

most women, the women in Jose Rizal's life may have been mesmerized by

his intelligence, wit, and charm.

Segunda katigbak: "The Puppy Love"

• Segunda Katigbak, a short woman who hailed

from Lipa, Batangas.

• She was considered the puppy love of Jose Rizal.

• However, this puppy love of Rizal was already

betrothed to her town's mate, Manuel Luz.

 Marupok Moments
"Si Segunda daw ang nanligaw kay Pepe bago ito nainlove sa
kanya."
Leonor Valenzuela
• Leonor Valenzuela who was a tall lass from Pagsanjan,

Laguna.
• Rizal used an invisible ink in writing love notes sent to

Leonor. The love notes can be read only through the

heat emitted by a lamp or candle.

• His last encounter with Leonor was when he bade her

goodbye before leaving for Spain

 Leonor Rivera
• Leonor Rivera was Rizal's love for 11 years, and she was the

reason he tried not to fall in love with other women during

his travels.
• But, due to Rizal's being a propagandist and to the fact that

he was the cause of many political problems in Calamba,

Leonor's mother disapproved of the relationship.
 Leonor Rivera
• It is known that Rizal sent many letters and notes to Leonor,

all of which her mother hid and never gave to her.

• This caused Leonor to believe that Rizal no longer had any

feelings for her, and she decided to agree to marry a man of

her mother's choosing—the Englishman Henry Kipping.

 Marupok Moments
by
Leonor Valenzuela
"Si Segunda daw ang nanligaw kay Pepe bago ito nainlove sa kanya."

Marupok Moments
by
Leonor Rivera
"Walang taon siyang naghintay sa pagbalik ni Pepe."
 Consuelo Ortiga Y Rey
• During his stay in Madrid, Rizal and some fellow Filipinos

would visit the home of Don Pablo Ortiga.

• They went there to visit the Don's daughters, but more

specifically, Rizal went there to visit Consuela, who was

considered to be the prettiest of Don Pablo's daughters.

• Consuela fell in love with Rizal, and he even wrote a poem for

her called A LA SENORITA C.O. y R., which became one of

his best poems.

 Consuelo Ortiga Y Rey

• Yet, keeping in mind that he was loyal to Leonor Rivera, he

backed out before the relationship could get any more serious.
• Also, he knew that his friend, Eduardo de Lete, was in love with

Consuela, and he did not wish to destroy their friendship over a

girl.
 Marupok Moments
"Laging si Pepe ang laman ng kanyang Diary."
Seiko usui/o-sei-san
• O Sei San, the daughter of a Japanese samurai, taught
Rizal the Japanese art of su-mie painting.
• She also taught Rizal to learn the Japanese language.
• During his stay in Japan, Rizal fell in love with his guide,
interpreter, and Japanese language teacher.
• It is said that if Rizal did not have a personal mission to
accomplish, he would have married O-Sei San and lived
in Japan for good.
 Marupok Moments
"Hindi siya nag-asawa hanggang si Pepe nong 1896"
GERTRUDE BECKETT
• Gertrude Beckett also fell in love with Rizal, but Rizal hastily
left London for Paris to avoid Gertrude, who was then
seriously in love with him.
• While Rizal was working on his annotation of Morga's work,

he stayed in the Beckette family house, which was walking

distance from the British Museum, where Morga's work was

displayed.
GERTRUDE BECKETT
• The eldest of the Beckette sisters, Gertrude, or "Gettie",
as Rizal used to call her, fell in love with Rizal.
• He suddenly left for Paris, though, in order to avoid the
growing feelings between himself and Gettie.
• Before he left, he left Gettie a sculpture of the Beckette
sisters.
 Marupok Moments
by
GERTRUDE BECKETT
"Gusto niya na magakaron sila ng relasyon ni Pepe pero kaibigan lang ang
turing sa kanya nito"
Suzanne Jacoby
• Rizal met Suzanne Jacoby in Brussels and they fell deeply in

love with each other.

• Due to the high cost of living in Paris during the 1890's,

Rizal moved to Brussels, where he stayed in a boarding

house owned by the Jacoby sisters.

• As time passed, they fell in love, but it was for nothing since

Rizal ended up leaving Brussels, though she did write to him

while he was in Madrid.

 Marupok Moments
by
Suzanne Jacoby
"Matagal siyang lumuha ng iwan siya ni Pepe at hindi din niya ginalaw ang
sokolate na binigay nito"
 Nellie Boustead
• After learning of Leonor Rivera's marriage to Henry Kipping,

Rizal was able to go back to courting the other ladies.

• During his stay in Biarritz, Rizal stayed with the Boustead

family, where he became friends with Eduardo Boustead's two

pretty daughters.
• Antonio Luna, another frequent visitor to the Boustead

residence, was trying to court Nelly, but she was already

infatuated with Rizal.

 Nellie Boustead
• This resulted in an ugly scene where Antonio said some bad words about

Nelly while he was drunk at a Filipino-hosted party in Madrid. Rizal then

challenged him to a duel, but Antonio-after sobering up-realized his

mistakes and apologized to Rizal, thus preventing a rift among the unified

Filipinos in Madrid.
• Unfortunately, Rizal and Nelly did not end up getting married because

Rizal did not want to be converted to Protestantism and Nelly's mother

didn't want a poor man for their daughter.
• The good thing is, they remained friends and parted as friends when Rizal

left Europe.
 Marupok Moments
"Hindi siya naging marupok nung nagkahiwalay sila ni Pepe
ay naging magkaibigan parin sila"
Josephine Bracken
• Josephine Bracken was an 18-year-old Irish girl who had blue eyes and

brown hair and was a happy character.

• She was the adopted daughter of George Taufer, a man from Hong Kong

who came to Rizal for medical assistance.

• It is said that Rizal was physically attracted to her, that his loneliness had

taken over, and that it was better not to fall in love again.
• Surprisingly, the Rizal sisters thought that Josephine was a spy for the

friars and considered her a "threat to Rizal's security."

Josephine Bracken
• In time, Rizal proposed to Josephine, but she wasn't prepared to

make such a big choice since she still had to look after her blind

father.
• Unfortunately, George Taufer's illness could not be treated, so

he went back to Hong Kong while Josephine stayed with Rizal's

family in Manila.
• When she returned to Dapitan, Rizal tried to arrange for their

marriage with Father Antonio Obach.

Josephine Bracken
• The priest, however, wanted a retraction as a precondition to

marrying. Thus, Rizal took Josephine as his wife even without

the church's blessing, at the urging of his family, and with her

consent.
• She later gave birth to a stillborn, believed to be the result of

some incident, and this could have traumatized her.

 Marupok Moments
"Kahit na pinaghinilaan siyang ispiya ay nagkaron ng
mahirap na buhay ay hindi parin siya nawala sa tabi ni Pepe
hanggang sa huli"
What is it's implication to the national identity?

The women of Rizal have an impact on national identity. They served as an

inspiration and motivation for him to pursue his decisions and plans to fight for

the country. It is just a normal phenomenon for an individual to repeatedly fall in

love with different women. Furthermore, this is a part of Rizal's colorful stories

with his women to make his life complete.

 THANK YOU

FOR LISTENING