RIZL111: (W13) (W13) NOLI ME TANGERE AND EL FILIBUSTERISMO
(W13.1) NOLI ME TANGERE by JOSE RIZAL
(TOUCH ME NOT/ DON’T TOUCH ME)
THE TITLE
• The title, in Latin meaning Touch me not, refers to John 20:17
in the Bible (King James Version) as Mary Magdalene tried to
touch the newly risen Jesus, He said “Touch me not; for I am
not yet ascended to my father”
• Noli Me Tangere is a novel by Filipino polymath and national
hero José Rizal first published in 1887 in Berlin. Early English
translations used titles like An Eagle Flight (1900) and The
Social Cancer (1912), but more recent translations have been
published using the original Latin title.
REFERENCES FOR THE NOVEL
• Jose Rizal preferred that the prospective novel expresses the
backward, anti-progress and anti-intellectual way Filipino
culture was.
• On JUNE 2, 1884, Rizal proposed the writing of a novel about
the Philippines written by a group of Filipinos.
• His proposal was unanimously approved by the Filipinos
present at the party, among whom were Pedro, Maximino and
Antonio Paterno, Graciano Lopez Jaena, Evaristo Aguirre,
Eduardo de Lete, Julio Llorente and Valentin Ventura.
PUBLICATION
• Rizal finished the novel in December 1886.
• Rizal feared the novel might not be printed, and that it would
remain unread.
• A financial aid came from a friend named Maximo Viola which
helped him print his book at a fine print media in Berlin named
Berliner Buchdruckerei-Aktiengesellschaft.
1 | TRANSES BY: MARIA JARIZ ANAM || PROF: RAQUELIZE ORILLAZA
MAJOR CHARACTERS
CRISOSTOMO IBARRA
• Son of a Filipino businessman, Don Rafael Ibarra, he studied
in Europe for seven years.
• Ibarra is also Maria Clara's fiancé. Several sources claim that
Ibarra is also Rizal's reflection.
MARIA CLARA
• Ibarra's fiancée. She was raised by Capitan Tiago and is the
most beautiful and widely celebrated girl in San Diego.
• an illegitimate daughter of Father Damaso.
CAPITAN TIAGO
• Santiago de los Santos, known by his nickname Tiago and
political title Capitan Tiago is a Filipino businessman and the
cabeza de barangay or head of barangay of the town of San
Diego. He is also the known father of Maria Clara.
PADRE DAMASO
• Damaso Verdolagas, or Padre Damaso is a Franciscan friar
and the former parish curate of San Diego. He is best known
as a notorious character who speaks with harsh words and
has been a cruel priest during his stay in the town.
ELIAS
• Ibarra's mysterious friend and ally. He wants to revolutionize
the country & to be freed from Spanish oppression.
PILOSOPONG TACIO
• DON ANASTASIO: Seeking for reforms from the government,
he expresses his ideals in paper written in a cryptographic
alphabet "that the future generations may be able to decipher
it" & realized the abuse & oppression done by the conquerors.
DONA VICTORINA
• Dona Victorina de los Reyes de Espadana, is an ambitious
Filipina who classifies herself as a Spanish and mimics
Spanish ladies by putting on heavy make-up.
SISA, CRISPIN, AND BASILIO
• Narcisa or Sisa is the deranged mother of Basilio and Crispin.
Described as beautiful and young, although she loves her
children very much, she cannot protect them from the
beatings of her husband, Pedro.
• Crispin is Sisa's 7-year-old son. An altar boy, he was unjustly
accused of stealing money from the church. After failing to force
Crispin to return the money he allegedly stole, Father Salvi and
the head sacristan killed him. It is not directly stated that he was
killed, but the dream of Basilio suggests that Crispin died during
his encounter with Padre Salvi and his minion.
• Basilio: Sisa's 10-year-old son. An acolyte tasked to ring the
church bells for the Angelus, he faced the dread of losing his
younger brother and the descent of his mother into insanity. At
the end of the novel, Elias wished Basilio to bury him by burning
in exchange of chest of gold located on his death ground. He will,
later play a major role in El Filibusterismo.
 RIZL111: (W13) (W13) NOLI ME TANGERE AND EL FILIBUSTERISMO
PLOT
• Having completed his studies in Europe, Juan Crisostomo Ibarra
y Magsalin comes back to the Philippines after a 7-year absence.
• In his honor, Don Santiago delos Santos "Captain Tiago" a
family friend, threw a get-together party, which was attended
by friars and other prominent figures.
• One of the guests, former San Diego curate Fray Damaso
Vardolagas belittled and slandered Ibarra.
• The next day, Ibarra visits Maria Clara, his love, the beautiful
daughter of Captain Tiago and affluent resident of Binondo.
• Their long-standing love was clearly manifested in this
meeting, and Maria Clara cannot help but reread the letters
her sweetheart had written her before he went to Europe.
• Before Ibarra left for San Diego, Lieutenant Guevara, a Civil
Guard, reveals to him the incidents preceding the death of his
father, Don Rafael Ibarra, a rich haciendero of the town.
• According to Guevara, Don Rafael was unjustly accused of being
a heretic, in addition to being a subversive — an allegation
brought forth by Damaso because of Don Rafael's non-
participation in the Sacraments, such as Confession & Mass.
• Damaso's animosity against Ibarra's father is aggravated by
another incident when Don Rafael helped out on a fight
between a tax collector and a child fighting, and the former's
death was blamed on him, although it was not on purpose.
• Suddenly, all of those who thought ill of him surfaced with
additional complaints. He was imprisoned, and just when the
matter was almost settled, he died of sickness in jail.
• Revenge was not in Ibarra's plans, instead he carried through
his father's plan of putting up a school, since he believed that
education would pave the way to his country's progress (all
over the novel the author refers to both Spain and the
Philippines as two different countries as part of a same nation
or family, with Spain seen as the mother and the Philippines
as the daughter).
• During the inauguration of the school, Ibarra would have been
killed in a sabotage had Elias — a mysterious man who had
warned Ibarra earlier of a plot to assassinate him — not saved
him. Instead the hired killer met an unfortunate incident and died.
• After the inauguration, Ibarra hosted a luncheon during which
Damaso, gate-crashing the luncheon, again insulted him.
Ibarra ignored the priest's insolence, but when the latter
slandered the memory of his dead father, he was no longer
able to restrain himself and lunged at Damaso, prepared to
stab him for his impudence
• As a consequence, Damaso excommunicated Ibarra, taking this
opportunity to persuade the already-hesitant Tiago to forbid his
daughter from marrying Ibarra. The friar wished Maria Clara to
marry Linares, a Peninsular who had just arrived from Spain.
• With the help of the Governor-General, Ibarra's
excommunication was nullified and the Archbishop decided to
accept him as a member of the Church once again.
2 | TRANSES BY: MARIA JARIZ ANAM || PROF: RAQUELIZE ORILLAZA
• Meanwhile, in Capitan Tiago's residence, a party was being
held to announce the upcoming wedding of Maria Clara and
Linares. Ibarra, with the help of Elias, took this opportunity to
escape from prison.
• Before leaving, Ibarra spoke to Maria Clara and accused her of
betraying him, thinking that she gave the letter he wrote her
to the jury. Maria Clara explained that she would never
conspire against him, but that she was forced to surrender
Ibarra's letter to Father Salvi, in exchange for the letters
written by her mother even before she, Maria Clara, was born.
• Maria Clara, thinking that Ibarra had been killed in the shooting
incident, was greatly overcome with grief. Robbed of hope and
severely disillusioned, she asked Damaso to confine her into
a nunnery.
• Damaso reluctantly agree when she threatened to take her
own life, demanding, "the nunnery or death!” Unbeknownst to
her, Ibarra was still alive and able to escape. It was Elias who
had taken the shots.
• It was Christmas Eve when Elias woke up in the forest fatally
wounded, as it is here where he instructed Ibarra to meet him.
Instead, Elias found the altar boy Basilio cradling his already-
dead mother, Sisa.
• The latter lost her mind when she learned that her two sons,
Crispin and Basilio, were chased out of the convent by the
sacristan mayor on suspicions of stealing sacred objects.
• Elias, convinced that he would die soon, instructs Basilio to
build a funeral pyre and burn his and Sisa's bodies to ashes.
He tells Basilio that, if nobody reaches the place, he come back
later on and dig for he will find gold.
• He also tells him (Basilio) to take the gold he finds and go to
school. In his dying breath, he instructed Basilio to continue
dreaming about freedom for his motherland
• Elias died thereafter.
EPILOGUE
• Tiago became addicted to opium and was seen to frequent the
opium house in Binondo to satiate his addiction.
• Maria Clara became a nun where Salvi, who has lusted after
her from the beginning of the novel, regularly used her to fulfill
his lust.
• One stormy evening, a beautiful crazy woman Was seen at the
top of the convent crying and cursing the heavens for the fate
it has handed her.
• While the woman was never identified, insinuated that the said
woman was Maria Clara.
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(W13.2) EL FILIBUSTERISMO
• El Filibusterismo (Spanish for "The Filibustering"), also known
by its English alternate title The Reign of Greed, is the second
novel written by Philippine national hero José Rizal.
• It is the sequel to Noli Me Tangere and like the first book was
written in Spanish.
• It was first published in 1891 in Ghent, Belgium.
PLOT SUMMARY
• Thirteen years after leaving the Philippines, Crisostomo Ibarra
returns as Simoun, a rich jeweler sporting a beard and blue-
tinted glasses, and a confidant of the Captain-General.
Abandoning his idealism, he becomes a cynical saboteur,
seeking revenge against the Spanish Philippine system
responsible for his misfortunes by plotting a revolution.
• Simoun insinuates himself into Manila high society and
influences every decision of the Captain-General to
mismanage the country’s affairs so that a revolution will break
out. He cynically sides with the upper classes, encouraging
them to commit abuses against the masses to encourage the
latter to revolt against the oppressive Spanish colonial regime.
• This time, he does not attempt to fight the authorities through
legal means, but through violent revolution using the masses.
Simoun has reasons for instigating a revolution. First is to
rescue María Clara from the convent and second, to get rid of
ills and evils of Philippine society.
• His true identity is discovered by a now grown-up Basilio while
visiting the grave of his mother, Sisa, as Simoun was digging
near the grave site for his buried treasures. Simoun spares
Basilio’s life and asks him to join in his planned revolution
against the government, egging him on by bringing up the
tragic misfortunes of the latter's family.
• Basilio declines the offer as he still hopes that the country’s
condition will improve.
• Basilio, at this point, is a graduating student of medicine at the
Ateneo Municipal de Manila. After the death of his mother,
Sisa, and the disappearance of his younger brother, Crispín,
Basilio heeded the advice of the dying boatman, Elías, and
traveled to Manila to study.
• Basilio was adopted by Captain Tiago after María Clara entered
the convent. With Captain Tiago’s help, Basilio was able to go to
Colegio de San Juan de Letrán where, at first, he is frowned upon
by his peers and teachers not only because of the color of his
skin but also because of his shabby appearance.
• Captain Tiago’s confessor, Father Irene is making Captain
Tiago’s health worse by giving him opium even as Basilio tries
hard to prevent Captain Tiago from smoking it. He and other
students want to establish a Spanish language academy so
that they can learn to speak and write Spanish despite the
opposition from the Dominican friars of the Universidad de
Santo Tomás.
3 | TRANSES BY: MARIA JARIZ ANAM || PROF: RAQUELIZE ORILLAZA
• With the help of a reluctant Father Irene as their mediator and
Don Custodio’s decision, the academy is established; however
they will only serve as caretakers of the school not as the
teachers. Dejected and defeated, they hold a mock celebration at
a pancitería while a spy for the friars witnesses the proceedings.
• Simoun, for his part, keeps in close contact with the bandit
group of Kabesang Tales, a former cabeza de barangay who
suffered misfortunes at the hands of the friars. Once a farmer
owning a prosperous sugarcane plantation and a cabeza de
barangay (barangay head), he was forced to give everything
to the greedy and unscrupulous Spanish friars.
• His son, Tano, who became a civil guard, was captured by
bandits; his daughter Huli had to work as a maid to get enough
ransom money for his freedom; and his father, Tandang Selo,
suffered a stroke and became mute. Before joining the
bandits, Tales took Simoun’s revolver while Simoun was
staying at his house for the night.
• As payment, Tales leaves a locket that once belonged to María
Clara. To further strengthen the revolution, Simoun has
Quiroga, a Chinese man hoping to be appointed consul to the
Philippines, smuggle weapons into the country using
Quiroga’s bazaar as a front.
• Simoun wishes to attack during a stage play with all of his
enemies in attendance. He, however, abruptly aborts the
attack when he learns from Basilio that María Clara had died
earlier that day in the convent.
• A few days after the mock celebration by the students, the people
are agitated when disturbing posters are found displayed around
the city. The authorities accuse the students present at the
pancitería of agitation & disturbing peace and have them arrested.
• Basilio, although not present at the mock celebration, is also
arrested. Captain Tiago dies after learning of the incident and
as stated in his will—forged by Irene, all his possessions are
given to the Church, leaving nothing for Basilio. Basilio is left
in prison as the other students are released.
• A high official tries to intervene for the release of Basilio but
the Captain-General, bearing grudges against the high official,
coerces him to tender his resignation. Juli, Basilio’s girlfriend
and the daughter of Kabesang Tales, tries to ask Father
Camorra’s help upon the advice of an elder woman. Instead of
helping Juli, however, the priest tries to rape her as he has
long-hidden desires for Juli.
• Juli, rather than submit to the will of the friar, jumps over the
balcony to her death. Basilio is soon released with the help of
Simoun. Basilio, now a changed man, after hearing about Juli's
suicide, finally joins Simoun’s revolution.
• Simoun then tells Basilio his plan at the wedding of Paulita
Gómez and Juanito, Basilio’s hunch-backed classmate. His
plan was to conceal an explosive inside a pomegranate-styled
Kerosene lamp that Simoun will give to the newlyweds as a
gift during the wedding reception.
 RIZL111: (W13) (W13) NOLI ME TANGERE AND EL FILIBUSTERISMO
• The reception will take place at the former home of the late
Captain Tiago, which was now filled with explosives planted by
Simoun. According to Simoun, the lamp will stay lighted for
only 20 minutes before it flickers;
• If someone attempts to turn the wick, it will explode and kill
everyone—important members of civil society and the Church
hierarchy—inside the house. Basilio has a change of heart and
attempts to warn Isagani, his friend and the former boyfriend
of Paulita.
• Simoun leaves the reception early as planned and leaves a
note behind: “Mene Thecel Phares.”—Juan Crisostomo Ibarra
• Initially thinking that it was simply a bad joke, Father Salví
recognizes the handwriting and confirms that it was indeed
Ibarra’s. As people begin to panic, the lamp flickers. Father
Irene tries to turn the wick up when Isagani, due to his
undying love for Paulita, bursts in the room and throws the
lamp into the river, sabotaging Simoun's plans.
• He escapes by diving into the river as guards chase after him.
He later regrets his impulsive action because he had
contradicted his own belief that he loved his nation more than
Paulita and that the explosion and revolution could have
fulfilled his ideals for Filipino society.
• Simoun, now unmasked as the perpetrator of the attempted arson
and failed revolution, becomes a fugitive. Wounded and
exhausted after he was shot by the pursuing Guardia Civil, he
seeks shelter at the home of Father Florentino, Isagani’s uncle,
and comes under the care of Doctor Tiburcio de Espadaña, Doña
Victorina's husband, who was also hiding at the house.
• Simoun takes poison in order for him not to be captured alive.
Before he dies, he reveals his real identity to Florentino while
they exchange thoughts about the failure of his revolution and
why God forsook him. Florentino opines that God did not
forsake him and that his plans were not for the greater good
but for personal gain.
• Simoun, finally accepting Florentino’s explanation, squeezes
his hand and dies. Florentino then takes Simoun’s remaining
jewels and throws them into the Pacific Ocean with the corals
hoping that they would not be used by the greedy, and that
when the time came that it would be used for the greater good,
when the nation would be finally deserving liberty for
themselves, the sea would reveal the treasures.
4 | TRANSES BY: MARIA JARIZ ANAM || PROF: RAQUELIZE ORILLAZA
CHARACTERS OF THE EL FILIBUSTERISMO
• SIMOUN - A powerful man who has a great influence over the
Kapitan Heneral. Using this, he plans to destroy the Spaniards
as his vendetta for the sufferings of Crisostomo Ibarra.
• BASILIO - The eldest of Sisa's two sons, now an aspiring doctor
whose medical education was being financed by Capitan Tiago.
He is now at the point of graduation during the events in the novel.
• ISAGANI - Poet and Basilio's best friend; portrayed as
emotional and reactive; Paulita Gómez boyfriend before being
dumped for fellow student Juanito Peláez
• KABESANG TALES - Cabeza Telesforo Juan de Dios, a former
cabeza de barangay of Sagpang, a barangay in San Diego's
neighboring town Tiani, who resurfaced as the feared Luzón
bandit Matanglawin
• 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.
• PAULITA GOMEZ - The girlfriend of Isagani and the niece of
Doña Victorina. In the end, she and Juanito Peláez are wed,
and she dumps Isagani
• MACARAIG - One of Isagani's classmates at the University of
Santo Tomas. He is a rich student and serves as the leader of
the students yearning to build the Academia de Castellano.
• FATHER FLORENTINO - Isagani's godfather, and a secular
priest; was engaged to be married, but chose to be a priest
after being pressured by his mother
• JULI/HULI - Juliana de Dios, the girlfriend of Basilio, and the
youngest daughter of Kabesang Tales. To claim her father
from the bandits, she had to work as a maid under the
supervision of Hermana Penchang.
• JUANITO PELAEZ - The son of Don Timoteo Pelaez, a Spanish
businessman, he is also one of the members of Macaraig's
gang who wish to have the Academia de Castellano built.
• DOÑA VICTORINA - Victorina delos Reyes de Espadaña, known
in Noli Me Tangere as Tiburcio de Espadaña's cruel wife.
• FATHER CAMORRA - The parish priest of Tiani. He has been
desiring young women ever since. He nearly raped Juli
causing the latter to commit suicide.
• BEN-ZAYB - The pseudonym of Abraham Ibañez, a journalist
who believes he is the "only" one thinking in the Philippines.
• PLACIDO PENITENTE - A student of the University of Santo
Tomas who was very intelligent and wise but did not want, if
not only by his mother's plea, to pursue his studies.
• HERMANA PENCHANG - Sagpang's rich pusakal (gambler).
She offers Huli to be her maid so the latter can obtain money
to free Kabesang Tales.
• TIBURCIO DE ESPADAÑA - Don Tiburcio is Victorina de
Espadaña's lame husband. He is currently on hiding with
Father Florentino.
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• FATHER ÍRENE - Captain Tiago's spiritual adviser. Although

reluctant, he helped the students to establish the Academia de
Castellano after being convinced by giving him a chestnut.
• QUIROGA - A Chinese businessman who dreamed of being a
consul for his country in the Philippines. He hid Simoun's
weapons inside his house.
• DON TIMOTEO PELAEZ - Juanito's father. He is a rich
businessman and arranges a wedding for his son and Paulita.
He and Simoun became business partners.
• TANDANG SELO - Father of Kabesang Tales. He raised the sick
and young Basilio after he left their house in Noli Me Tangere.
• FATHER FERNÁNDEZ - The priest-friend of Isagani. He
promised to Isagani that he and the other priests will give in
to the students demands.
• SANDOVAL - The vice-leader of Macaraig's gang. A Spanish
classmate of Isagani.
• HERMANA BÁLI - Another gambler in Tiani. She became Huli's
mother-figure and counselor; helped to release Kabesang
Tales from the hands of bandits
• PASTA - One of the great lawyers of mid-Hispanic Manila,
opposed the students' demands for a Spanish language academy
• FATHER MILLON - The Physics teacher of the University of
Santo Tomas. He always becomes vindictive with Placido and
always taunts him during class.
• TADEO - Macaraig's classmate. He, along with the other three
members of their gang, supposedly posted the posters
• LEEDS - An American who holds stage plays starring
decapitated heads; he is good friends with Simoun.
• TANO - Kabesang Tales's elder son after his older sister, Lucia
died in childhood.
• PEPAY - Don Custodio's supposed "girlfriend". A dancer, she
is always agitated of her boyfriend’s plans. She seems to be a
close friend of Macaraig.
• GOBERNADOR GENERAL - The highest-ranking official in the
Philippines during the Spanish colonial period.
• PECSON - Basilio's classmate who had no idea on the
happenings occurring around him. He suggested that they
held the mock celebration at the panciteria.
• FATHER HERNANDO DE LA SIBYLA - A Dominican friar
introduced in Noli Me Tangere, now the vice-rector of the
University of Santo Tomas.
• FATHER BERNARDO SALVI - Former parish priest of San
Diego, now the director & chaplain of the Santa Clara convent.
• CAPTAIN TIAGO - Santiago delos Santos, although making a
cameo appearance, Captain Tiago is Maria Clara's stepfather
and the foster-father to Basilio.
• MARIA CLARA - Introduced in Dr. Rizal's first novel "Noli Me
Tangere". She was once the girlfriend of Crisostomo Ibarra but
chose to became a nun despite Father Damaso's (her real father)
arguments. She eventually committed suicide, as witnessed by
Basilio when he visited the convent of Santa Clara.

5 | TRANSES BY: MARIA JARIZ ANAM || PROF: RAQUELIZE ORILLAZA