Assignment:

Search for the characters of the novels, Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo. Describe each of
them in the novel.

Noli Me Tangere Characters

1. Juan Crisóstomo Ibarra y Magsalin (Ibarra) - 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. He is cultured and well-respected, though the friars in his hometown of San Diego are suspicious
of him.

2. Maria Clara- 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 arrangement and does what he can to interfere.

3. Father Damaso - A Spanish friar living in the Philippines, He 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 understand Tagalog, the country’s native language.

4. Elias - An outlaw and vagabond revolutionary who resents the power the Catholic Church and Spanish
government have over the Philippines.

5. Father Salvi - A serious and committed Spanish friar who takes over Father Dámaso’s post in San
Diego as the town’s priest. He is a meticulous and cunning man who uses his religious stature for
political influence, benefitting both himself and the church.

6. Kapitan Tiago - 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 and San Diego.

7. The Ensign - 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.

8. Don Anastasio - 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” (or, if they are being kind, “Tasio the Philosopher”).

9. Don Rafael Ibarra - Ibarra’s father, who has died before the novel’s opening pages. He perished in
prison after Father Dámaso accused him of heresy and subversion.

10. Crispin - 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.

11. Basilio - Crispín’s older brother, who is also training to be a sexton. When Crispín is dragged away,
Basilio tries to find him unsuccessfully.
12. Doctor Tiburcio de Espadaña - A Spaniard who speaks with a stutter and looks significantly older
than his thirty-five years. He came to the Philippines as a customs officer, but was dismissed upon his
arrival.

13. La Doctora Victorina de los Reyes de Espadaña - A Filipina woman married to Don Tiburcio. Above
all else, she cares about her image as a beautiful and admired socialite, though she is actually—as Rizal
goes out of his way to emphasize—past her prime.

14. Doña Consolación - 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.

15. Señor Guevara - An elderly lieutenant of the Civil Guard who deeply respects both Ibarra and the
late Don Rafael.

16. Kapitan Heneral - 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, each set of people volleying for his favor.

17. Linares - 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.

18. The school master - A teacher whom Don Rafael supported, helping him find a house and enabling
him to properly do his job. He tells Ibarra about the unfortunate circumstances in San Diego surrounding
education, which greatly inhibit the town’s students.

19. Don Filipo - The deputy mayor of San Diego. He 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 spend great amounts of money on the yearly festival celebrating the various
religious holidays in November.

20. The Mayor - 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.

21. The Yellow Man - 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.

22. Tarsilo - 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.

23. Sisa - 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.

24. Father Sibyla - 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.

25. Captain Basilio - 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.
26. Lucas - 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.

27. Captain Pablo - 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.

28. Bruno - 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.

29. Aunt Isabel - Captain Tiago’s cousin, and the woman who raised María Clara after her mother’s
death during childbirth.

30. Captain Tinong - 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.

31. The Chief Sexton - 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.

32. Victoria - One of María Clara’s friends, and one of her cousins.

33. Andeng - 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.

34. Sinang - One of María Clara’s friends and cousins.

35. Iday - One of María Clara’s friends.

36. The Gravedigger - A cemetery worker who, on Father Dámaso’s orders, exhumes Don Rafael’s body.
Ibarra interrogates this man, desperate for information about his father.

El Filibusterismo Characters

1. Simoun - Crisóstomo Ibarra reincarnated as a wealthy jeweler, bent on starting a revolution

2. Basilio - Sisa's son, now an aspiring doctor

3. Isagani - poet and Basilio's best friend; portrayed as emotional and reactive; Paulita Gómez' boyfriend
before being dumped for fellow student Juanito Peláez

4. Kabesang Tales - Telesforo Juan de Dios, a former cabeza de barangay (barangay head) who
resurfaced as the feared Luzón bandit Matanglawin (Tagalog for Hawkeye); his father, Old Man Selo,
dies eventually after his own son Tano, who became a guardia civil, unknowingly shoots his grandfather
in an encounter

5. Don Custodio - Custodio de Salazar y Sánchez de Monteredondo, a famous journalist who was asked
by the students about his decision for the Academia de Castellano. In reality, he is quite an ordinary
fellow who married a rich woman in order to be a member of Manila's high society
6. Paulita Gómez - the girlfriend of Isagani and the niece of Doña Victorina, the old India who passes
herself off as a Peninsular, who is the wife of the quack doctor Tiburcio de Espadaña. In the end, she and
Juanito Peláez are wed, and she dumps Isagani, believing that she will have no future if she marries him

7. Father Florentino - Isagani's godfather, and a secular priest; was engaged to be married, but chose
the priesthood instead, the story hinting at the ambivalence of his decision as he chooses an assignment
to a remote place, living in solitude near the sea.

8. Huli - Juliana de Dios, the girlfriend of Basilio, and the youngest daughter of Kabesang Tales

9. Ben Zayb - Abraham Ibañez is his real name. He is a journalist who thinks he is the only one thinking in
the Philippines

10. Placido Penitente - A student of the University of Santo Tomas who is always miserable, and
therefore controls his temper

11. Quiroga - A Chinese businessman who dreamt of being a consul of a Consulate of China in the
Philippines. He hid Simoun's weapons inside his house

12. Old Man Selo - father of Kabesang Tales. He raised the sick and young Basilio after his mother Sisa
had died

13. Father Fernandez - the priest-friend of Isagani. He promised to Isagani that he and the other priests
will give in to the students' demands

14. Attorney Pasta - one of the great lawyers of mid-Hispanic Manila

15. Captain-General - (no specific name) the powerful highest official of the Philippines

16. Padre Sibyla - Hernando de la Sibyla, a Filipino friar and now vice-rector of the University of Santo
Tomas (U.S.T.)

Quiz on Learning Activity 4

1. What was the first poem written by Rizal in Tagalog? Why did he write this poem?And was his
purpose in writing the poem?
Sa Aking mga Kabata was the first poem written by Rizal in Tagalog. His purpose in
writing the poem is to depict the nationalistic significance of the Filipino language in the
life of our people.
2. The first poem Rizal wrote during his days in Ateneo was “Mi Primera Inspiracion”(My First
Inspiration) To whom was this poem dedicated?
Mi Primera Inspiracion was dedicated to his mother Dona Teodora on her birthday.
3. When Rizal was 18 years old, he submitted a poem in a literary contest sponsored by the Liceo
Artistico-Literario in Manila. What prize did he receive? What was the title of the poem? To
whom was this poem dedicated?
 Rizal submitted a poem entitled A La Juventud Filipina (To the Filipino Youth). He’s prize
was a silver pen, feather-shaped and decorated with a golden ribbon. It was dedicated
to the youth to rise from lethargy.
4. Compare Noli and Fili in three ways. ( in two sentences only)
First is Noli Me Tangere is a romantic novel (book of the heart) while El Filibusterismo is
a political novel (book of the head), and Fili was intended to make longer than Noli but it
became shorter than the Noli because of lack of printing funds. Marcelo H. Del Pilar and
Rizal considered the Noli as superior to the Fili as a novel.
5. The touching poem “Mi Ultimo Adios” (My Last Farewell) was written on December 30, 1896 on
the eve of Rizal’s execution in his prison cell at Fort Santiago. What does this poem convey?

The poem conveys bade farewell of Rizal to his country, his family and his friends in lines
of dignity and grace devoid of bitterness. He was willing to die for his dearly beloved
country he called “Pearl of the Orient Sea”