SYNOPSIS OF NOLI ME TANGERE

Noli Me Tangere is a 63-chapter novel with an epilogue. Capitan Tiago gives a

reception at his home on Calle Analogue on the last day of October. At the event or
supper, Crisostomo Ibarra, a young and rich Filipino who had lately returned from seven
years of study in Europe, is recognized. He’s the sole son of Capitan Tiago's friend, Don
Rafael Ibarra, and the fiancé of Capitan Tiago's purported daughter, Maria Clara.
The story begins during a party to welcome Crisóstomo Ibarra back to the
Philippines after a seven-year study abroad in Europe. Padre Damaso, a plump
Franciscan friar who had served as parish priest of San Diego, Ibarra's hometown, for
20 years; Padre Sybila, a young Dominican parish priest of Binondo; Senior Guevara,
an elderly and kind lieutenant of the Guardia Civil; Don Tiburcio de Espadaña, a bogus
Spanish physician, lame, nagged husband of Doña Victorina.
Crisóstomo's father, Don Rafael, died in prison shortly before his return, after
accidentally murdering a tax collector and being wrongfully convicted of additional
crimes by Father Dámaso. Crisóstomo, together with his fiancé, Maria Clara, arrives to
San Diego. After realizing that Father Dámaso and the new curate, Father Salv, are
interfering with his teaching, Crisóstomo decides to open a new modern school in San
Diego.
Crisóstomo takes Mara Clara for a picnic on a fishing boat and supports the pilot,
Elas, in killing a crocodile. Elas later warns Crisóstomo that there is a plot to
assassinate him at the school's cornerstone laying ceremony, and the derrick holding
the stone collapses as Crisóstomo is laying mortar for the cornerstone. Crisóstomo
escapes injury, but the derrick operator dies. Father Dámaso later makes harsh
statements about the new school, Filipinos in general, Crisóstomo, and Don Rafael at a
dinner. Crisóstomo attacks him, but Mara Clara intervenes and protects the priest from
being killed. Her father subsequently calls off their engagement and arranges for her to
marry Linares, a young Spaniard.
With Lucas, the brother of the dead derrick operator, Father Salv plots an attack
on the Civil Guard barracks, convincing the attackers that Crisóstomo is the
mastermind. Father Salv then warns the Civil Guard's commander of the impending
attack. The rebels claim Crisóstomo as their leader after the operation fails, and he is
caught. Elas helps Crisóstomo flee from prison, and the two flee by boat down the Pasig
River, chased by Civil Guard officers. Elas dives into the river to distract the pursuers
and is fatally injured. Mara Clara insists on entering a convent after Crisóstomo is
supposed to have been slain.
In the dedication of the novel, Rizal reveals that there was once a type of cancer
so dreadful that the afflicted could not bear being touched, and the disease was called
Noli Me Tangere ("do not touch me"). His imaginary homeland was also devastated. Its
account of the horrors of Spanish tyranny fueled the country's independence movement
and is today regarded as a masterpiece of Philippine literature.