Rizal Course

Michael Vincent P. Caceres, PhD

Member, National Research Council of the Philippines

Rizal: Summary of Lecture

Noli Me Tangere (63 or 64 chapters)
1. Noli Me Tángere (Latin for "Touch me not"; acute accent is added on the final word in accordance
with Spanish orthography) is an 1887 novel by Filipino writer and activist José Rizal published during the
Spanish colonial period of the Philippines. It explores perceived inequities in law and practice in terms of the
treatment by the ruling government and the Spanish Catholic friars of the resident peoples a hundred years
ago.
2. Originally written by Rizal in Spanish, the book has since been more commonly published and read in
the Philippines in either Tagalog (the major indigenous language), or English. The Rizal
Law requires Noli and its sequel, El filibusterismo to be read by all high school students throughout the
country. Noli is studied in Grade 9 and El filibusterismo in Grade 10. The two novels are widely considered
to be the national epic of the Philippines. They have been adapted in many forms, such as operas, musicals,
plays, and other forms of art.
3. The title originates from the Biblical passage John 20:13-17. In Rizal's time it also referred to cancers that
occurred on the face, particularly cancers of the eyelid; touching such lesions irritated them, causing pain.
[1]
As an ophthalmologist, Rizal was familiar with the cancer and the name.[2] He is explicit about the
connection in the novel's dedication, which begins: A mi patria ('To my country')[3]: 26 and continues with "...a
cancer of so malignant a character that the least touch irritates it and awakens in it the sharpest
pains."[a] Rizal probes the cancers of Filipino society.[4] Early English translations of the novel used different
titles, such as An Eagle Flight (1900) and The Social Cancer (1912), but more recent English translations
use the original title.

4. José Rizal, a Filipino nationalist and polymath, conceived the idea of writing a novel that would expose the
backwardness and lack of progress of Philippine society because of the burden of colonization. According to
historian Carlos Quirino, the novel bears similarities in terms of characterization and plot to the Spanish
novelist Benito Pérez Galdós' "Doña Perfecta".[5] Rizal intended to express the way Filipino culture was
perceived to be backward, anti-progress, anti-intellectual, and not conducive to the ideals of the Age of
Enlightenment. At the time he was a student of medicine at the Universidad Central de Madrid.
5. Other Filipinos were also working or studying in Madrid, which as the capital of Spain was the center of
culture and universities. At a gathering on January 2, 1884, of friends at the house of Pedro A. Paterno,
Rizal proposed that a group of Filipinos should collaborate on a novel about the Philippines. His proposal
was unanimously approved by those present, among whom were Pedro, Máximo Viola and Antonio
Paterno, Graciano López Jaena, Evaristo Aguirre, Eduardo de Lete, Julio Llorente, and Valentin Ventura.
However, they never got into the project. Although agreeing to help, none of the others wrote anything.
Initially, Rizal planned for the novel to encompass all phases of Filipino life, but most of his friends, all young
males, wanted to write about women. Rizal saw that his companions spent more time gambling and flirting
with Spanish women than writing. Because of this, he decided to draft the novel alone.

6. Rizal finished the novel in February 1887. At first, according to one of Rizal's biographers, Rizal feared the
novel might not be printed, and that it would remain unread.[citation needed] He was struggling with financial
constraints at the time and thought it would be hard to pursue printing the novel.
7. His friend Máximo Viola provided some financial aid, enabling Rizal to have the book printed at Berliner
Buchdruckerei-Aktiengesellschaft in Berlin. Viola loaned Rizal ₱300 for 2,000 copies. The printing was
finished earlier than the estimated five months. Viola arrived in Berlin in December 1886, and by March 21,
1887, Rizal had sent a copy of the novel to his friend, Blumentritt. [6]

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Rizal Course
Michael Vincent P. Caceres, PhD
Member, National Research Council of the Philippines

Spanish authorities in the Philippines banned the book, but copies were smuggled into the country. The first
Philippine edition (and the second published edition) was printed in 1899 in Manila by Chofre y Compania in
Escolta.

8. Juan Crisóstomo Ibarra y Magsalin, commonly referred to in the novel as Ibarra or Crisóstomo, is the
novel's protagonist. The mestizo (mixed-race) son of Filipino businessman Don Rafael Ibarra, he studied in
Europe for seven years.[11][12] Ibarra is also María Clara's fiancé.
9. María Clara de los Santos y Alba, commonly referred to as María Clara, María, or Clarita, is Ibarra's
fiancée and the most beautiful and widely celebrated girl in San Diego. [13] She was raised by Kapitán Tiago
de los Santos, and his cousin, Isabel. In the later parts of the novel, she was revealed to be an illegitimate
daughter of Father Dámaso, the former curate of the town, and Doña Pía Alba, Kapitán Tiago's wife, who
had died giving birth to María Clara.[14]
At the novel's end, a heartbroken yet resolved María Clara entered the Real Monasterio de Santa Clara (a Poor
Clare nunnery) after learning the truth of her parentage and mistakenly believing that her lover, Crisóstomo, had
been killed. In the epilogue, Rizal stated that it is unknown whether María Clara is still living within the walls of the
convent or is already dead.[15]
10. Don Santiago de los Santos, known by his nickname Tiago and political title Kapitán Tiago, is said to be
the richest man in the region of Binondo and possessed real properties in Pampanga and Laguna de Baý.
He is also said to be a good Catholic, a friend of the Spanish government and thus was considered a
Spaniard by the colonial elite. Kapitán Tiago never attended school, so he became the domestic helper of
a Dominican friar who gave him an informal education. He later married Pía Alba from Santa Cruz.[13]
11. Dámaso Verdolagas, better known as Padre Dámaso, is a Franciscan friar and the former parish curate of
San Diego. He is notorious for his brashness and cruelty during his ministry in the town. [16] An enemy of
Crisóstomo's father Don Rafael Ibarra, Dámaso is revealed to be María Clara's biological father. [14] Later, he
and María Clara had bitter arguments on whether she would marry Alfonso Linares de Espadaña (which he
preferred) or enter the nunnery (her desperate alternative).[17] At the end of the novel, he is again reassigned
to a distant town and later found dead in his bed.[15]
12. Elías is Ibarra's mysterious friend and ally. Elías made his first appearance as a pilot during a picnic of
Ibarra and María Clara and her friends.[18]
Chapter 50 explores Elías' family history. Elías's grandfather Ingkong, in his youth, worked as a bookkeeper in a
Manila office. One night the office burned down, and Don Pedro Eibarramendia, the Spaniard owner, accused him
of arson. Ingkong was imprisoned and upon release was shunned by the community as a dangerous lawbreaker.
His wife Impong turned to prostitution to support themselves but eventually they were driven into the hinterlands.
There Impong bore her first son, Balat.
13. Driven to depression, Ingkong hangs himself deep in the forest. Impong was sickly for lack of nourishment in
the forest and was not strong enough to cut down his corpse and bury him, and Balat was then still very
young. The stench led to their discovery, and Impong was accused of killing her husband. She and her son
fled to another province where she bore another son.
Balat grew up to be a legendary bandit. When he was finally caught he was cut limb by limb and his head was
deposited in front of Impong's house. Seeing the severed head of her son, Impong died of shock. Impong's younger
son, knowing their deaths would somehow be imputed upon him, fled to the province of Tayabas where he met and
fell in love with a rich young heiress. They have an affair and the lady got pregnant.
14. But before they could marry, his records were dug up. Then the father, who disapproved of him from the
start, had him imprisoned. The lady gave birth to Elías and his twin sister but died while the two were still
children. Nonetheless, the twins were well cared for and doted over by their grandfather. Elías went to
Ateneo and his sister to La Concordia, but as they wanted to become farmers they eventually returned to
Tayabas.

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Rizal Course
Michael Vincent P. Caceres, PhD
Member, National Research Council of the Philippines

15. He and his sister grew up not knowing about their father except that he had died long ago. Elías was an
abusive brat who took particular joy in berating an elderly servant who, nevertheless, always submitted to
his whims. His sister was more refined and eventually was betrothed to a fine young man. But before they
could marry, Elías ran afoul with a distant relative. The verbal scuffle mounted to the point where records
were dug up, and Elías and his sister, as well as a good part of town, learned the truth. The elderly servant
whom Elías frequently abused was their father.
16. The scandal caused the engagement of Elías' sister to break off. Depressed, the girl disappeared one day
and was eventually found dead along the seashore. Elías himself lost face and became a wanderer. Like his
uncle Balat, he became a bandit, but by degrees he became the gentler, more reserved, and more noble
character first introduced in the novel.
17. Salomé is Elías' sweetheart. She lived in a little house by the lake, and though Elías would like to marry her,
he tells her that it would do her or their children no good to be related to a fugitive like himself. In the original
publication of Noli Me Tángere, the chapter that explores the identity of Elías and Salomé was omitted,
classifying her as a totally non-existent character. This chapter, titled Elías y Salomé, was probably the 25th
chapter of the novel. However, recent editions and translations of Noli include this chapter either on the
appendix or as Chapter X (Ex).

18. Also known as Don Anastasio, he was a former student of philosophy. His wealthy mother, not wanting him
to forget God, presented him with the choice of entering the priesthood or leaving college. He leaves
college, marries his sweetheart, but loses her and his mother in the same year. To ensure he does not fall
into depression or vice, he devotes his time on his books and in so doing neglects the wealth his mother left
for him. He writes using an invented form of alphabet that is based on the Tagalog language, hoping "that
the future generations may be able to decipher it.[19]
19. Doña Victorina de los Reyes de de Espadaña, commonly known as Doña Victorina, is an ambitious
Filipina who classifies herself as a Spaniard and mimics Spanish ladies by putting on heavy make-up.[16] The
novel narrates Doña Victorina's younger days: she had many admirers, but she spurned them all because
none of them were Spaniards. Later on, she met and married Don Tiburcio de Espadaña, an official of the
customs bureau ten years her junior.[20] However, their marriage is childless.
20. Her husband assumes the title of medical "doctor" even though he never attended medical school; using
fake documents and certificates, Tiburcio illegally practices medicine. Tiburcio's usage of the
title Dr. consequently makes Victorina assume the title Dra. (doctora, female doctor).[20] Apparently, she uses
the whole name Doña Victorina de los Reyes de de Espadaña, with double de to emphasize her marriage
surname.[20] She seems to feel that this awkward titling makes her more "sophisticated".
21. Sisa, Crispín, and Basilio[edit]
 Narcisa, or Sisa, is the deranged mother of Basilio and Crispín. Described as beautiful and young, she loves
her children very much but cannot protect them from beatings by her husband, Pedro.
 Crispín is Sisa's seven-year-old son. An altar boy, he was unjustly accused of stealing money from the church.
The head sexton beats him to force him to "return" the money. Basilio dreams that Crispín dies of the beating.
 Basilio is Sisa's 10-year-old son. An acolyte tasked with ringing the church's bells for the Angelus, he faced the
dread of Crispín's death and his mother's descent into insanity. Elías asked him to cremate his and Sisa's body
after revealing the location of Ibarra's treasure. He later played a major role in the sequel, El filibusterismo.
Due to their tragic but endearing story, these characters are often parodied in modern Filipino popular culture.