Introduction and Page Structure

• Dr. José P. Rizal, a Filipino nationalist and national hero, released his first novel, Noli me Tangere, in Germany in 1887. The plot delves into the society of the Philippines during the Spanish colonial period, highlighting the aristocracy behind poverty and imperialist oppression.

• The work sparked outrage among Filipinos who had also been subjected to Spanish abuse at the time of its release. Before regular Filipinos crossed the borders and started the historic Philippine Revolution in 1896, a few months before Dr. Rizal's execution, Noli me Tangere was followed by El Filibusterismo (1889).

• The book itself is a fictional story, but it contains the hidden truth about the corruption and abuse by the colonial government and the Catholic Church.

• In Rizal's book, he expressed the growing national consciousness of many Filipinos who opposed Spanish colonial tyranny and aspired to attain democratic rights.

• Noli me Tangere is subdivided into 63 chapters, each are simultaneous from one another and explored lives of different characters embedded into single time frame and has interconnections.

• Literally translated, the Latin words “noli me tángere” means, “touch me not”.

• Taken from John 20:17 when Mary Magdalene holds on to Jesus and he tells her not to touch him.

• SILHOUETTE OF A FILIPINA- It was popular belief that the silhouette  of the woman in the cover 

• A MAN IN A CASSOCK WITH HAIRY FEET- This symbolism at the lower part of the cover is to be a representation for priests using religion in a dirty way, specifically Padre Damaso. 

• HELMET OF THE GUARDIA CIVIL/CONSTABULARY HELMET- An obvious take on the arrogance of those in authority. 

• WHIP/CORD- The cruelties present in the novel best explains the symbol Rizal used in the cover. 

• FLOGS- another symbolism for cruelties. It is a representation of Jesus Christ’s scourging before his imminent crucifixion. 

• A LENGTH OF CHAIN- Rizal’s representation of slavery and imprisonment. 

• BAMBOO STALKS – One thing comes to mind when bamboo stalks are talked about: Resilience. 

• CROSS- The one that killed the Christ Jesus. It was a representation of suffering and death. It also represent a grave. Magnifies the discrimination towards Filipinos, Chinese Mestizos and Spaniards during this time towards a proper burial. 

• BURNING TORCH- A reference to the Olympic torch, it tells everyone the beginning of the defense of honors and the start of proving themselves worthy of victory. Rage and passion are most abundant in this phase. Represents a phrase that could possibly mean everything to every single suffering Filipinos: “The rise of the revolution is now at hand.” 

• POMELO BLOSSOMS AND LAUREL LEAVES- They roughly represent faith, honor and fidelity. Pomelo blossoms are utilized as loose potpourri or a mixture of dried flower petals and spices used to scent the air. It is commonly used in prayers and cleansing. The laurel leaves, also known as bay leaves, are used as crowns during the Ancient Greek Olympics wherein the best of the best are treated as heroes. Filipinos in this time wants to embody these three virtues that Rizal represented as two plants.

• SUNFLOWERS- A unique behavior in sunflowers, known as phototropism, is a motif that has appeared in many ancient myths and is viewed as a symbol of loyalty and constancy. The sunflower's petals have been likened to bright yellow rays of sunshine, which evoke feelings of warmth and happiness. In addition, the sunflower is often associated with adoration and longevity. Rizal’s observation towards the happiness of the Filipinos are, in the Spanish times, are only fulfilled through their giving in and bowing down to the more powerful entity: Spain.

• Ibarra (Juan Crisóstomo Ibarra y Magsalin)

  Son of a Filipino businessman, Don Rafael Ibarra, he studied in Europe for seven years. Ibarra is also María Clara's fiancé. Upon his return, Ibarra requested the local government of San Diego to construct a public school to promote education in the town.

• María Clara (María Clara de los Santos y Alba) 

          She was raised by Capitán Tiago, San Diego's cabeza de barangay and is the most beautiful and widely celebrated girl in San Diego. In the later parts of the novel, María Clara's identity was revealed as an illegitimate daughter of Father Dámaso, former parish curate of the town, and Doña Pía Alba, wife of Capitán Tiago. In the end she entered local covenant for nuns Beaterio de Santa Clara.

• Capitán Tiago (Don Santiago de los Santos)

         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 María Clara. He is also said to be a good Catholic, friend of the Spanish government and was considered as a Spanish by colonialists. Capitán Tiago never attended school, so he became a domestic helper of a Dominican friar who taught him informal education. He married Pía Alba from Santa Cruz.

• Padre Dámaso (Dámaso Verdolagas)

        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. He is the real father of María Clara and an enemy of Crisóstomo's father, Rafael Ibarra.

• Elías 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. He wants to revolutionize the country and to be freed from Spanish oppression.

• Filosofo Tacio (Pilosopo Tasyo)

        Seeking for reforms from the government, he expresses his ideals in paper written in a cryptographic alphabet similar from hieroglyphs and Coptic figures hoping "that the future generations may be able to decipher it" and realized the abuse and oppression done by the conquerors. His full name is only known as Don Anastacio. The educated inhabitants of San Diego labeled him as Filosofo Tacio (Tacio the Sage)

• Narcisa or Sisa she is the deranged mother of Basilio and Crispín. Described as beautiful and young, although she loves her children very much, she can not protect them from the beatings of her husband, Pedro. 

• Crispín is Sisa's 7-year-old son. An altar boy, he was unjustly accused of stealing money from the church. After failing to force Crispín to return the money he allegedly stole, Father Salví and the head sacristan killed him. 

• Basilio is 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 falling of his mother into insanity.

• Pedro abusive husband of Sisa who loved cockfighting.

• Dona Victorina

           A woman who poses herself as a Peninsulares. Wife of Don Tiburcio de Espadana, known in the novel as a trying hard rich woman who abhors anything that is Filipino and clings for Spanish way of life. This kind of character was manifested on some Filipinos of that time.

• Don Rafael Ibarra  

         Known in the plot as a concerned citizen and property owner who was a father of Crisostomo Ibarra. Padre Damaso who played an antagonist role called him a heretic and filibustero due to his view on relating to liberalism in society.

• The School Master 

         A teacher at San Diego who's view in the novel represented the weak and useless education in the Philippines. He attributes the problem from facilities and methods of learning that the friars implemented in the country.

• Tandang Pablo the leader of the rebels, whose family was destroyed because of the Spaniards.

• Padre Sibyla (Hernando de la Sibyla) a Filipino friar. He is described as short and has fair skin.

• Padre Salvi also known in his full name as Bernardo Salvi, a secret admirer of Maria Clara.

• The Alferez chief of the Guardia Civil, mortal enemy of the priests for power in San Diego.

• Don Tiburcio Spanish husband of Doña Victorina who was limp and submissive to his wife; he also pretended to be a doctor.

• Doña Consolacion

         Wife of the Alferez, another woman who passed herself as a Peninsular; best remembered for her abusive treatment of Sisa. Being the only competitor of Captain Tiago in godliness, she did everything to pretend that she was really religious by showing off to the public what she could contribute to the Church.

Having completed his studies in Europe, Juan Crisostomo Ibarra came back to the Philippines after a 7-year absence. In his honor, Captain Tiago threw a get-together party, which was attended by friars and other prominent figures. In an unfortunate incident, former curate Father Damaso belittled and slandered Ibarra. But Ibarra brushed off the insult and took no offense.

Ibarra went to see Maria Clara, his love interest, a beautiful daughter of Captain. Their long-standing love was clearly manifested in this meeting, and Maria Clara cannot help but reread the letters her sweetheart had written to her before he went to Europe. Before Ibarra left for San Diego, Lieutenant Guevarra, a Guardia Civil, revealed to him the incidents preceding the death of his father, Don Rafael Ibarra, a rich haciendero of the town.

According to the Lieutenant, Don Rafael was unjustly accused of being a heretic and filibuster. Father Damaso's animosity against Ibarra's father was aggravated by another incident when Don Rafael helped out on a fight between a tax collector and a student fighting, and the former's death was blamed on him, although it was not deliberate. Suddenly, all those who thought ill of him surfaced with additional complaints.

He was imprisoned, and just when the matter was almost settled, he got sick and died in jail. Still not content with what he had done, Father Damaso arranged for Don Rafael's corpse to be dug up and transferred from the Catholic cemetery to the Chinese cemetery, because he thought it inappropriate to allow a heretic such as Don Rafael to have a Catholic burial ground. Unfortunately, it was raining and because of the bothersome weight of the cadaver, the men in charge of the burial decided to throw the corpse into lake.

Revenge was not in Ibarra's plans; instead he carried thought his father's plan of putting up a school, since he believed that education would pave the way to his country's progress. 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. Instead, the hired killer met an unfortunate incident and died. The sequence of events proved to be too traumatic for Maria Clara who got seriously ill but was luckily cured by the medicine Ibarra sent to her.

After the inauguration, Ibarra hosted a luncheon during which Father Damaso, uninvited and 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 at Father Damaso, prepared to stab the latter for his imprudence. As a consequence, Father Damaso excommunicated Ibarra. Father Damaso took this opportunity to persuade the already-hesitant father of Maria Clara to forbid his daughter from marrying Ibarra. The friar wished to marry a Peninsular named Linares who has arrived from Spain.

With the help of Captain-General, Ibarra's excommunication was nullified and the Archbishop decided to accept him as a member of the Church once again. But, as fate would have it, some incident of which Ibarra had known nothing about was blamed on him, and he was wrongly arrested and imprisoned. But the accusation against him was overruled because during the litigation that followed, nobody could testify that he was indeed involved. Unfortunately, his letter to Maria Clara somehow got into the hands of the jury and was manipulated such that it then became evidence against him.

Meanwhile, in Captain 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 and escaped from prison. But before leaving, Ibarra talked to Maria Clara and accused her for betraying him, thinking that she gave the letter to wrote her to the jury. Maria Clara explained to Ibarra that she will never conspire against him but that she was forced to surrender Ibarra's letter to her in exchange for the letters written by her mother even before she, Maria Clara, was born. The child and that she, Maria Clara, was therefore not the daughter of Captain Tiago, but of Father Damaso.

Afterwards, Ibarra and Elias bounded a boat and left the palace. Elias instructed Ibarra to lie down and the former covered the latter with grass to conceal the latter's presence. As luck would have it, they were spotted by their enemies. Elias thought he could outsmart them and jumped into the water. The guards rain shots on the person in the water, all the while not knowing that they were aiming at the wrong man.

Maria Clara, thinking that Ibarra has been killed in the shooting incident, was greatly overcome with grief. Robbed of hope and severe disillusion, she asked Father Damaso to confine her into a nunnery. Father Damaso reluctantly agreed when Maria Clara threatened to take her own life, demanding, "the nunnery or death!" Unbeknown to her, Ibarra is 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, gravely wounded and barely alive. It was in the forest that Elias found Basilio and his lifeless mother, Sisa.

-- The end of the story

• Real Life Inspirations

• Historical Context

• Language and Symbolism

• Censored and BannedLiterary Influence