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Writing of the Noli Me Tangere
• 1884 – Madrid, Rizal began to
write the novel.
• 1885 – Paris, finished the half of
the second half of the novel.
• 1886 (April – June) –
Wilhelmsfeld, wrote the last
few chapters of Noli.
• 1887 (February 21) – Noli was
finally finished and ready for
printing.
Printing of Noli Me Tangere
• 1887 (Christmas Day) –
Maximo Viola shocked to
find out that Rizal living in
poverty and sickly due to
lack of proper nourishment.
• Viola agreed to finance the
printing cost of Noli.
• The chapter, “Elias and
Salome” was deleted due to
lack of fund.
 Printing of Noli Me Tangere
• Printing Press (Berliner
Buchdruckrei – Action
Gesselchaft) charged 300 pesos
for 2,000 copies.
• 1888 (March 21) – Noli came off
the press.
• First copies of Noli ( Blumentritt,
Dr. Antonio Regidor, Lopez
Jaena, Mariano Ponce, & Felix R.
Hidalgo).
• 1888 ( March 29) – Rizal gave
the galley proof of Noli to Viola.
Noli Me Tangere – The Characters
 Juan Crisóstomo Ibarra y Magsalin

• Ibarra or Crisóstomo, is the protagonist in the

story, son of a Filipino businessman, Don
Rafael Ibarra.
• Studied in Europe for seven years.
• María Clara's fiancé.
• Several sources claim that Ibarra is also Rizal's
reflection.
 María Clara de los Santos y Alba

• Commonly referred to as María Clara

• Ibarra's fiancée.
• She was raised by Capitán Tiago, San Diego's
cabeza de barangay.
• An illegitimate daughter of Father Dámaso,
former parish curate, of the town, and Doña Pía
Alba, wife of Capitán Tiago.
• The character of María Clara was patterned
after Leonor Rivera, Rizal's first cousin and
childhood sweetheart.
 Don Santiago de los Santos
• known by his nickname Tiago, with political title
Capitán Tiago.
• Filipino businessman and the cabeza de barangay or
head of barangay of the town of San Diego.
• Known father of María Clara
• Richest man in the region of Binondo and he
possessed real properties in Pampanga and Laguna de
Bay.
• Good Catholic, friend of the Spanish government and
was considered as a Spanish by colonialists.
• Domestic helper of a Dominican friar.
• Married Pía Alba from Santa Cruz.
 Dámaso Verdolagas
• Padre Dámaso is a Franciscan friar and
the former parish curate of San Diego.
• Real father of María Clara
• An enemy of Crisóstomo's father, Rafael
Ibarra.
• Best known as a notorious character
who speaks with harsh words and has
been a cruel priest.
 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.
• Rizal’s alter ego.
 Don Anastacio
• known by his Filipinized name Pilosopo
Tasyo
• Seeking for reforms from the government,
he expresses his ideals in paper written in
a cryptographic alphabet.
• Educated inhabitants of San Diego labeled
him as Filosofo Tacio (Tacio the Sage)
while others called him as Tacio el Loco
(Insane Tacio) due to his exceptional talent
for reasoning.
• Known as Paciano in real life.
 Doña Victorina de los Reyes de
Espadaña
• Commonly known as Doña Victorina, is
an ambitious Filipina who classifies
herself as a Spanish and mimics Spanish
ladies by putting on heavy make up.
• Wife of Don Tiburcio de Espadaña, an
official of the customs bureau and a
fake doctor.
 Sisa, Crispín, and Basilio
• Narcisa or Sisa 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’s dream)
• 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
the descent of his mother into insanity.
• At the end of the novel, Elías wished
Basilio to bury him by burning in
exchange of chest of gold located on
his death ground.
• Padre Hernando de la Sibyla – a
Dominican friar. He is described as
short and has fair skin. He is instructed
by an old priest in his order to watch
Crisóstomo Ibarra.

• Padre Bernardo Salví – the Franciscan

curate of San Diego, secretly harboring
lust for María Clara. He is described to
be very thin and sickly.
• El Alférez or Alperes – chief of the Guardia
Civil. Mortal enemy of the priests for
power in San Diego and husband of Doña
Consolacion.
• Doña Consolacíon – wife of the Alférez,
nicknamed as la musa de los guardias
civiles (The muse of the Civil Guards) or la
Alféreza, was a former laundrywoman
who passes herself as a Peninsular; best
remembered for her abusive treatment of
Sisa.
• Don Tiburcio de Espadaña – Spanish
Quack Doctor who is limp and submissive
to his wife, Doña Victorina.
• Teniente Guevara - a close friend of
Don Rafael Ibarra. He reveals to
Crisóstomo how Don Rafael Ibarra's
death came about.
• Alfonso Linares – A distant nephew of
Tiburcio de Espadaña, that would be
fiancé of María Clara. Although he
presented himself as a practitioner of
law, it was later revealed that he, just
like Don Tiburcio, is a fraud. He later
died due to given medications of Don
Tiburcio.
• Tía Isabel - Capitán Tiago's cousin, who
raised Maria Clara.
• Gobernador Heneral – Unnamed
person in the novel, he is the most
powerful official in the Philippines. He
has great disdain for the friars and
corrupt officials, and sympathizes with
Ibarra.
• Don Filipo Lino – vice mayor of the
town of San Diego, leader of the
liberals.
• Padre Manuel Martín - he is the
linguist curate of a nearby town who
delivers the sermon during San Diego's
fiesta.
• Don Rafael Ibarra - father of
Crisóstomo Ibarra. Though he is the
richest man in San Diego, he is also the
most virtuous and generous.
• Doña Pía Alba - wife of Capitan Tiago
and mother of María Clara, she died
giving birth to her daughter. In reality,
she was raped by Dámaso so she could
bear a child.
• Don Pedro Eibarramendia - the
great-grandfather of Crisóstomo Ibarra
who came from the Basque area of Spain.
He started the misfortunes of Elias' family.
His descendants abbreviated their
surname to Ibarra. He died of unknown
reasons, but was seen as a decaying
corpse on a Balete Tree.
• Don Saturnino Ibarra - the son of Don
Pedro, father of Don Rafael and
grandfather of Crisóstomo Ibarra. He was
the one who developed the town of San
Diego. He was described as a cruel man
but was very clever.
• Salomé - Elías' sweetheart.
• She lives 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.
• Sinang - Maria Clara's friend. Because
Crisóstomo Ibarra offered half of the
school he was building to Sinang, he
gained Capitan Basilio's support.
• Iday, Andeng and Victoria - Maria
Clara's other friends.
• Capitán Basilio - Sinang's father, leader
of the conservatives.
• Pedro – the abusive husband of Sisa
who loves cockfighting.
• Tandáng Pablo – The leader of the
tulisanes (bandits), whose family was
destroyed because of the Spaniards.
• El hombre amarillo (apparently means
"yellowish person", named as Taong
Madilaw) - One of Crisostomo Ibarra's
would-be assassins. He is not named in the
novel, and only described as such. In the
novel, he carved the cornerstone for
Ibarra's school. Instead of killing Ibarra, he
was killed by his cornerstone.
• Lucas - the brother of the taong madilaw.
He planned a revolution against the
government with Ibarra as the leader after
he was turned down by Ibarra. He was said
to have a scar on his left cheek. He would
later be killed by the Sakristan Mayor.
• Bruno and Tarsilo – a pair of brothers
whose father was killed by the
Spaniards.
• Ñor Juan (Ñol Juan) - appointed as
foreman of the school to be built by
Ibarra
• Capitana Tika - Sinang's mother and
wife of Capitan Basilio.
• Albino - a former seminarian who
joined the picnic with Ibarra and María
Clara. Was later captured during the
revolution.
• Capitana María Elena - a nationalist
woman who defends Ibarra of the
memory of his father.
• Capitán Tinong and Capitán Valentín -
other known people from the town of
San Diego.
• Sacristán Mayor - The one who
governs the altar boys and killed Crispín
for his accusation.
NOLI ME TANGERE
63 chapters and epilogue is what Noli Me
Tangere, Rizal’s first novel consists of where he
exposes the abuses and inequalities of many
Spanish Catholic friars and government officials
during his time. Rizal was a student of medicine
at the Unibersidad Central de Madrid and was
Influenced by Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle
Tom’s Cabin, Rizal planned and started writing
the novel, and he was 26 years old when it was
published.
The year between 1886-1887 was one of the most
stressful part in Rizal’s life. He was meticulous preparing
the final draft of the Noli, that he had actually having the
feeling of fear that he might not be able to have his
worked published for he was having financial problem
that even his personal needs alone have been affected.
Thankful to a friend from a rich family of San Miguel
Bulacan, who arrived in Berlin Germany, Dr. Maximo
Viola who has gone down in history as “the savior of
Noli” who lend Rizal P300.00 (Three hundred pesos) that
was used to print the first 2,000 copies of the Noli.

As a token of gratitude, Rizal gave Maximo Viola the

galley proofs of the novel rolled around the pen used in
writing the novel Noli. He also gave the savior the first
copy of come off the press on which Rizal inscribed a
dedication “first to read and appreciate (Rizal’s) work”
Noli Me Tangere was dedicated to the country of his
people whose miseries and sorrows he brought to
light in an attempt to awaken them to the truths
concerning the ills of their society.

Noli Me Tangere creatively depicts the real

conditions of the various aspects of Filipino society
under the Spanish regime.
● corrupt officials and friars
● The Filipino way of life had been backward,
anti-intellectual and anti-progressive and
● the country was not in any way catching up on
developments and the so-called Age of
Enlightenment
SYNOPSIS
The main character of the Noli Me Tangere, a young and
wealthy Filipino Crisostomo Ibarra returned to his country
after some years of study in Europe. In his honor, Captain
Tiago (Santiago de los Santos) threw a party at his house in
Manila. The gathering was attended by renowned local
personalities like Padre Damaso, a fat Franciscan priest who
had been assigned for many years in Ibarras native town (San
Diego), Fray Sibyla, Lieutenant Guevarra of the Guardia Civil
and Doña Victorina wife of the fake Spanish physician Don
Tiburcio de Espadaña, Crisostomo’s father, Don Rafael Ibarra
and Maria Clara.

During the party, Padre Damaso belittled Ibarra and rudely

tried to harm his reputation. But the gentleman Ibarra simply
ignored the friar’s affront. When Ibarra left Capitan Tiago’s
house, Lieutenant Guevarra talked to him and related the
miserable fate of his deceased father in San Diego.
Guevarra explained that Don Rafael was unfairly accused by
the San Diego curate of being a heretic and filibuster because
of his non-participation in mass and confession. One day, Don
Rafael saw Spanish tax collector and a weak boy fighting. In an
attempt to defend the powerless boy, he had accidentally
pushed and killed the brutal Spaniard. Don Rafael was
imprisoned and died in his cell miserably. Initially buried in
consecrated ground, his body was removed from the Catholic
cemetery under the order of his enemies.

The next day, Crisostomo visited his sweetheart, Maria Clara.

After the lovely visit to his girlfriend, Ibarra went to San Diego
to look for his father’s grave. He had known through the
grave-digger that his father’s corpse was dug up by order of
the curate to be transferred to the Chinese cemetery. But
since it was raining and the corpse was heavy, the grave-digger
just threw Don Rafael’s corpse into the river.
Angered by what he learned, Ibarra suddenly attacked
Padre Salvi when he saw the San Diego priest, but Padre
Salvi explained to him that it was Padre Damaso who was
the town’s parish priest at the time of Don Rafael’s
death.

When Maria Clara and her family arrived in San Diego,

Ibarra gave a picnic at the lake. During the picnic, Ibarra
had saved the life of Elias-the boatman who was almost
killed by a crocodile trapped in the fish cage. Later in the
picnic some members of the Guardia Civil also came,
pursuing Elias who had previously assaulted Padre
Damaso and the Alferez. But Elias had escaped even
before the Guardia Civil arrived. Later on, Ibarra received
a notice that his donation of a school in San Diego had
been approved by the Spanish government.
On the day of the San Diego town fiesta, Ibarra and Maria
Clara attended the morning mass officiated by Padre Salvi and
Padre Damaso. During the mass , Elias silently went near
Ibarra and notified him of the plot to kill him at the ceremony
of the laying of the school’s cornerstone. So during the
inauguration, when Ibarra was about to cement the
foundation of the school, the platform collapsed. Fortunately,
the quick Elias had rescued Ibarra and the man who was paid
to harm Ibarra was the one killed in the incident.

Ibarra hosted a banquet later that day. Padre Damaso who

attended the feast publicly attacked the dignity of Ibarra’s
dead father. The angered host lunged at the ill-mannered friar
and had almost killed Damaso with a knife were it not for
Maria Clara who interfered just in time. Ibarra was
consequently excommunicated and his engagement to Maria
Clara was broken as Damaso persuaded Captain Tiago to
prohibit the lady from marrying Ibarra.
One day, Ibarra’s enemies engineered a helpless
attack on the station of the Guardia Civil., making
the attackers believe that Ibarra was the brain of the
uprising. After the attack failed, Ibarra was
incriminated and arrested.

Elias helped Ibarra escape from prison. Before

leaving, they discreetly topped at Captain Tiago’s
house.

Maria Clara explained that she was blackmailed by

Padre Salvi to surrender Ibarra’s letter (which was
used to incriminate him) in exchange for the letters
written by her dead mother. From these, she
learned that her real father was Padre Damaso.
Ibarra and Elias then took off by boat. Instructing Ibarra
to lie down, Elias covered him with grass to conceal his
presence. As luck would have it, they were spotted by
their enemies. Elias, thinking he could outsmart them,
jumped into the water. The guards rained shots at him,
all the while not knowing that they were aiming at the
wrong man.

Badly injured, Elias reached the forest where he found

the altar boy Basilio who was sobbing over the body of
his dead mother, Sisa. His mother had previously lost her
mind upon learning that her two sons, altar boy Crispin
and Basilio , were missing from the convent. Falsely
accused of stealing from the convent. Crispin had been
tortured and killed by the wicked and crooked sacristan
mayor. Basilio had escaped, and the death of his brother
had been covered up by Padre Salvi.
Knowing that he would eventually die, Elias instructed Basilio
to make a funeral pyre and burn his and Sisa’s bodies to ashes.
In his dying breath, Elias mumbled the following hopeful
patriotic words.

“I shall die without seeing the dawn break upon my

homeland. You, who shall see it, salute! Do not forget those
who have fallen during the night.”

The epilogue of the novel: Capitan Tiago becomes addicted to

opium. Padre Damaso was assigned to a far province and was
found dead in his bedroom one morning. The sorrowful Maria
Clara, believing that Ibarra had been shot dead in a river,
entered the nunnery. Padre Salvi left San Diego parish and
became chaplain of the nunnery. Some infer that Padre Salvi,
who has hidden desires for Maria, regularly molested her in
the nunnery. Consequently, pretty crazy woman was seen one
rainy night at the top of the convent bitterly weeping and
cursing the heavens for the fate it has bestowed upon her.