Noli Me Tángere (novel)

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.

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.

Crisóstomo Ibarra, the mestizo son of the recently deceased Don Rafael Ibarra, is returning to San Diego town in Laguna after seven years of study in Europe. Kapitán Tiago, a family friend, invites him to a reunion party in Manila. At the party Crisóstomo meets Padre Dámaso, who was San Diego's parish priest when Crisóstomo left for Europe. Dámaso treats Crisóstomo with hostility, surprising the young man who regarded the priest as a friend of his father. Later as Crisóstomo was walking back to his hotel, Lieutenant Guevara, another friend of his father, informs him that Don Rafael may have been killed for political reasons and Dámaso may have been involved. Guevara warns him to be careful.

The following day, Crisóstomo returns to Tiago's home to meet with his childhood sweetheart, Tiago's daughter María Clara. As the two flirt and reminisce, María reads back to him his farewell letter where he quoted a discussion he had with his father regarding the state of the country. Deeply moved, Ibarra excuses himself saying that he had to prepare for his trip to San Diego.

Arriving at the town, Crisóstomo goes to the cemetery to visit his father's grave. The undertaker tells him that the parish priest had ordered Rafael's remains be transferred to the Chinese cemetery, but that he threw the corpse into the lake instead. As Padre Bernardo Salví, the new parish priest, walks by, an enraged Crisóstomo pushes him to the ground, demanding an explanation. Salví fearfully says that the transfer was ordered by Padre Dámaso, not him.

Crisóstomo decides to forgive and commits to improvements in his town. He plans to build a private school, believing that his paisanos would benefit from a more modern education than what is offered in the government schools, which were under the influence of the friars. Enjoying widespread support from the locals and Spanish authorities, Crisóstomo's project advances quickly. He receives counsel from Don Anastacio, a local philosopher, and recruits a progressive schoolmaster. Construction was set to begin shortly with the cornerstone to be laid during San Diego's town fiesta.

One day, Crisóstomo, María and their friends go on a picnic along the shores of the Laguna de Baý. They discover that a crocodile had been lurking in the Ibarras' fish pens. Elías, the boatman, jumps into the water with a knife drawn. Sensing Elías is in danger, Crisóstomo jumps in and the two subdue the animal together. Elías proclaims himself indebted to Crisóstomo.

On the day of the fiesta, Elías warns Crisóstomo of a plot to kill him at the cornerstone ceremony. Sure enough, Crisóstomo evades injury and the would-be assassin is killed. During the luncheon, an uninvited Padre Dámaso further berates Crisóstomo. The other guests hiss for discretion, but Dámaso carries on and insults the memory of Don Rafael. Crisóstomo then loses control, strikes the friar unconscious and holds a knife to his neck. Crisóstomo tells the guests about Dámaso's schemes that resulted in his father's death. However, he releases Dámaso when María Clara pleads for mercy. Crisóstomo is excommunicated from the Church but has it lifted in Manila through the intercession of the sympathetic captain-general. Returning to San Diego, he finds María ill and refusing to see him.

Meanwhile, Elías senses Crisóstomo's influence with the government and takes him for a sail so they can talk in private. Elías tells him about a revolutionary group trying to recruit him, but that he stalled in order to get Crisóstomo's views first. The conversation shifts to Elías' family history. It turns out that Elías' grandfather in his youth worked as a bookkeeper in a Manila office. He was falsely accused by the Spanish owner of arson when the office burned down. He was prosecuted and jailed; upon release he was shunned by the community as a dangerous lawbreaker. His wife turned to prostitution to support the family. Their lives were destroyed.

Crisóstomo says that he cannot help and his school project is his focus. Rebuffed, Elías advises Crisóstomo to avoid him in the future, for his own safety. However, Elías returns a few days later to tell him of a rogue uprising planned for that same night. The instigators had used Crisóstomo's name in vain to recruit malcontents. The authorities know of the uprising and are prepared to spring a trap on the rebels. Realizing the scheme's repercussions, Crisóstomo abandons his school project and enlists Elías in sorting out and destroying documents that may implicate him. Elías obliges, but comes across a name familiar to him: Don Pedro Eibarramendia. Crisóstomo says Pedro was his great-grandfather, and that they had to shorten his long family name. Elías responds that Eibarramendia was the same Spaniard who accused his grandfather of arson, and thus condemned Elías and his family to misfortune. Frenzied, he raises his bolo to smite Crisóstomo, but regains his senses and leaves.

The uprising takes place, and many of the rebels are captured or killed. They point to Crisóstomo as instructed and he is arrested. The following morning, the instigators are found dead -- Padre Salví, the mastermind of the uprising, ordered his senior sexton to kill them in order to silence them. Elías, meanwhile, sneaks back into the Ibarra mansion and sorts through documents and valuables, then burns down the house. Crisóstomo and his co-accused are loaded into horse carts and taken to prison, with their townmates shouting in anger and casting stones as they passed.

Kapitán Tiago later on hosts a dinner at his riverside house in Manila to celebrate María Clara's engagement with Alfonso Linares, a Peninsular who was presented as her new suitor following Crisóstomo's excommunication. Present at the party were Padre Salví, Padre Sibyla, Lieutenant Guevarra, and other acquaintances. They spoke of the events in San Diego and Crisóstomo's fate. Salví, who lusted after María Clara all along and staged the uprising in order to frame Crisóstomo, says he requested to be moved to the Convent of the Poor Clares in Manila under the pretense of the San Diego uprising being too much for him.

Guevara outlines how the court came to condemn Crisóstomo. In a signed letter he wrote before leaving for Europe, Crisóstomo spoke of his father, an alleged rebel who died in prison. Somehow this letter fell into the hands of an enemy, and Crisóstomo's handwriting was copied to create recruitment letters for the uprising. The signature on the letters was similar to Crisóstomo's seven years before, but not at present day. Crisóstomo only had to deny ownership of the signature on the original letter and the case built on the bogus letters would be dismissed. But upon seeing the letter, which was of course his farewell letter to María Clara, Crisóstomo lost the will to fight the charges, and he is sentenced to be deported. Guevara then approaches María, who had been listening. Privately but sorrowfully, he congratulates her for her common sense in yielding the letter. Now, she can live a life of peace. María is devastated.

Later that evening Crisóstomo, having escaped prison with the help of Elías, confronts María in secret. María admits giving up his letter, but only because Salví found Dámaso's old letters in the San Diego parsonage, letters from María's mother who was then pregnant with her and begging Dámaso for an abortion. It turns out that Dámaso was María's biological father. Salví promised not to divulge Dámaso's letters in exchange for Crisóstomo's farewell letter. Crisóstomo forgives her, María swears her undying love, and they part with a kiss.

Crisóstomo and Elías slip unnoticed through the Estero de Binondo and into the Pasig River. Elías tells Crisóstomo that his family's treasures are buried in the Ibarra forest in San Diego. Wishing to make restitution, Crisóstomo tells Elías to escape with him to a foreign country, where they will live as brothers. Elías declines, stating that his fate lies with the country he wishes to reform. Crisóstomo then tells him of his own desire for revolution, to lengths that even Elías was unwilling to go. Just then, sentries catch up with their boat at the mouth of the Pasig River and pursue them across Laguna de Bay. Elías orders Crisóstomo to lie down and to meet him at the Ibarra mausoleum in the forest. He jumps into the water to distract the pursuers and is shot several times.

The following day, newspapers report that Crisóstomo, the fugitive, had been killed by sentries in pursuit. María remorsefully demands of Dámaso that her wedding with Linares be called off and that she be entered into the cloister, or the grave. Seeing her resolution, Dámaso admits he ruined the Ibarra family and her relationship with Crisóstomo because he was a mere mestizo and Dámaso wanted María to be happy and secure, and that was possible only if she married a peninsular Spaniard. Knowing why Salví had earlier requested to be assigned as chaplain in the Convent of the Poor Clares, Dámaso pleads with María to reconsider, but to no avail. Weeping, Dámaso consents, knowing the horrible fate that awaits his daughter within the convent but finding it more tolerable than her suicide.

A few nights later in the Ibarra forest, a boy pursues his mother through the darkness. The woman went insane with the constant beating of her husband, the death of her younger son in the hands of Padre Salví, and the loss of her elder son to the Guardia Civil. Basilio, the boy, catches up with Sisa, his mother, inside the Ibarra mausoleum, but the strain had already been too great for Sisa. She dies in Basilio's embrace. Elías then stumbles into the mausoleum, himself dying from his wounds. He instructs Basilio to burn their bodies and if no one comes, to dig inside the mausoleum. He will find treasure, which he is to use for his own education.

As Basilio leaves to fetch the wood, Elías sinks to the ground and whispers that he will die without seeing the dawn of freedom for his people and that those who see it must welcome it and not forget them that died in the darkness.

Afterwards, it is revealed that Dámaso is transferred to a remote town; distraught, he is found dead a day later. Tiago fell into depression and became addicted to opium and faded to obscurity. Salví, while waiting for his consecration as a bishop, serves as chaplain of the Convent of the Poor Clares. Meanwhile, during a stormy evening in September, two patrolmen reported seeing a specter on the roof of the convent weeping in despair. The next day, a government representative visited the convent to try to investigate the previous night's events. One of the nuns had a wet and torn gown and with tears told the representative of "tales of horror" and begged for "protection against the outrages of hypocrisy" (strongly suggesting that Padre Salví regularly rapes her when he is in the convent). The abbess, however, said that she was mad. A general also attempted to investigate the nun's case, but by then the abbess prohibited visits to the convent. Nothing more was said about this nun, or for that matter, María Clara.

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. He was struggling with financial constraints at the time and thought it would be hard to pursue printing the novel.

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]

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.

Cover page of the first Philippine edition published in 1899.

This novel and its sequel, El filibusterismo (nicknamed El fili), were banned by Spanish authorities in the Philippines because of their allegations of corruption and abuse by the colonial government and the Catholic Church. Copies of the book were nevertheless smuggled in and hidden, and when Rizal returned to the Philippines after completing medical studies, he quickly ran afoul of the local government. A few days after his arrival, Rizal was summoned to Malacañan Palace by Governor-General Emilio Terrero, who told him of the charge that Noli me tangere contained subversive elements. After a discussion, Terrero was appeased but still unable to offer resistance to pressure from the Church against the book. The persecution can be discerned from Rizal's letter to Leitmeritz:

My book made a lot of noise; everywhere, I am asked about it. They wanted to anathematize me ['to excommunicate me'] because of it... I am considered a German spy, an agent of Bismarck, they say I am a Protestant, a freemason, a sorcerer, a damned soul and evil. It is whispered that I want to draw plans, that I have a foreign passport and that I wander through the streets by night...

Rizal was exiled to Dapitan in Mindanao, then later arrested for "inciting rebellion" based largely on his writings. Rizal was executed by firing squad at the Luneta outside Manila's walls on December 30, 1896, at the age of thirty-five, at the park that now bears his name.

There are several secondary and minor characters in Noli Me Tángere. Names indicated in parentheses are the standard Filipinisation of Spanish names in the novel.

• Padre Hernándo de la Sibyla – a short and fair-skinned Dominican friar. He is instructed by an old priest in his order to observe Crisóstomo Ibarra.
• Padre Bernardo Salví – a Franciscan friar who succeeded Damaso as curate of San Diego. He lusts after María Clara. He is described to be very thin and sickly. It is also hinted that his surname, "Salví", is the shorter form of "salvación" ("salvation"), or that "Salví" is short for "salvaje" ("savage", "wild"), hinting at the fact that he is willing to kill an innocent child, Crispín, whom he accused of stealing money worth two onzas.
• El Alférez – the unnamed chief of the local Guardia Civil and husband of Doña Consolación. He is the sworn enemy of the priests in the town's power struggle.
• Doña Consolación – wife of the Alférez, nicknamed as la musa de los guardias civiles ("the muse of the Civil Guard") or la Alféreza. She was a former laundrywoman who passes herself as a peninsular, and is best remembered for her abusive treatment of Sisa.
• Don Tiburcio de Espadaña – A Spanish quack doctor who is weak and submissive to his pretentious wife, Doña Victorina.
• Teniente Guevara – lieutenant of the Guardia Civil, a close friend of Don Rafael Ibarra. He reveals to Crisóstomo the circumstances of Don Rafael's death.
• Alfonso Linares – A distant nephew of Tiburcio de Espadaña who would later become the fiancé of María Clara. Although he presented himself as a practitioner of law, it was later revealed that he is, like Don Tiburcio, a fraud. He later died from medications Don Tiburcio had given him.
• Tíya Isabel – Kapitán Tiago's cousin, who helped raise María Clara and served as a surrogate mother figure.
• Capitan-General – Unnamed in the novel, he is the most powerful colonial official in the Philippines. He harbors 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 – Crisóstomo Ibarra's father. Though he was the richest man in San Diego, he was also the most virtuous and generous. Thus he stepped on the toes of the elite who then conspired to destroy him.
• Doña Pía Alba – wife of Kapitán Tiago and mother of María Clara; she died giving birth to her daughter. Kapitán Tiago was officially the child's father, but in reality, Alba was raped by Padre Dámaso.
• Don Pedro Eibarramendia – Crisóstomo Ibarra's Basque great-grandfather who falsely accused Elías's grandfather and ruined his family. The surname was later shortened to Ibarra.
• Albino – a seminarian who follows Crisóstomo Ibarra in a picnic with María Clara's friends.
• Don Saturnino Eibarramendia – the father of Don Rafael and grandfather of Crisóstomo who is said to have founded the town of San Diego when it was still a vast forest.

Many English and Tagalog translations have been made of Noli Me Tángere, as well as a few other languages. The copyrights of the original text have expired, and the copyrights of some translators have also expired, so certain translations are in the public domain and have been put online by Project Gutenberg.

Noli Me Tángere has been adapted for literature, theater, television, and film.

• 1915: Noli Me Tángere, a silent film adaptation by Edward M. Gross.[32]
• 1930: Noli Me Tángere, another silent film adaptation, directed by José Nepomuceno under Malayan Movies.[33]
• 1951: National Artist for Cinema Gerardo de León directed a motion picture titled Sisa, starring Anita Linda in the role of the titular character.
• 1957: Noli Me Tangere, an opera in Filipino (Tagalog) composed by National Artist for Music Felipe Padilla de Leon with libretto by National Artist for Visual Arts Guillermo Tolentino.
• 1961: Noli Me Tángere, a faithful film adaptation of the novel, was directed by Gerardo de León for Bayanihan-Arriva Productions, featuring Eduardo del Mar in the role of Crisóstomo Ibarra. Released for the birth centenary of José Rizal, the motion picture was awarded the Best Picture in the 10th FAMAS Awards.
• 1979: Kanser (Noli Me Tangere), play in Filipino (Tagalog) written by Jomar Fleras. World premiere in 1979 at Cultural Center of the Philippines by theater group Bulwagang Gantimpala.[34] It has been staged annually by Gantimpala Theater (the group's new name) since 1989.[35] In 2015, it was adapted into a sung-through musical by Gantimpala Theater with music composed by Joed Balsamo.[36]
• 1993: Noli Me Tángere, a 13-episode miniseries by Eddie S. Romero which premiered on ABC on July 6.[37] This adaptation features Joel Torre in the role of Crisóstomo Ibarra, Chin Chin Gutierrez as María Clara, Tetchie Agbayani as Sisa, and Daniel Fernando as Elias.[38] It was released on VHS and Betamax in August 1995.[39]
• 1995: Noli Me Tángere, a Filipino (Tagalog) musical adaptation of the novel staged by theater company Tanghalang Pilipino with libretto (book and lyrics) by National Artist for Literature Bienvenido Lumbera and music by Ryan Cayabyab. It premiered in 1995 at the Cultural Center of the Philippines, directed by Nonon Padilla. It went on to tour Japan. It starred John Arcilla and Audie Gemora alternating as Crisóstomo Ibarra, Monique Wilson as María Clara, and Regine Velasquez as Sisa. Bernardo Bernardo and Bodjie Pascua alternated as Padre Dámaso, and Nanette Inventor and Sheila Francisco as Dona Victorina. It was restaged in 2005, directed by Paul Morales, and in 2011, directed by Audie Gemora. In 2014, it was staged in Los Angeles, directed by Olga Natividad.[40]
• Several excerpts from Noli Me Tángere were dramatized in the 1998 film José Rizal, with Joel Torre as Crisóstomo Ibarra/Simoun and Monique Wilson as María Clara.
• 1998: Sisa, a remake of the 1951 film of the same name. Written and directed by Mario O'Hara.[41]
• 2005: Noli Me Tángere 2, a modern literary adaptation of the novel written by Roger Olivares.[42]
• 2008–2009: Noli at Fili: Dekada 2000, a stage adaptation of Noli Me Tángere and El Filibusterismo by the Philippine Educational Theater Association, set in the present day, in the fictional town of Maypajo in the province of San Lorenzo. Written by Nicanor G. Tiongson and directed by Soxie Topacio.[42][43]
• 2019: The movie "Damaso", is a musical film based on the novel.
• 2022: Maria Clara at Ibarra, a TV drama that broadcasts on GMA Network, with Barbie Forteza as Klay Infantes, Julie Anne San Jose as María Clara and Dennis Trillo as Crisostomo Ibarra.

• A series of streets in the Sampaloc area of Manila are named after characters from the novel (Ibarra, Sisa and Basilio streets, to name a few).
• A street in Makati is named 'Ibarra Street,' located between Matanzas and Guernica streets.
• A restaurant serving Filipino cuisine at Greenbelt in Makati is called Restaurante Pia y Dámaso,[44] after María Clara's biological parents.
• A restaurant chain called Crisóstomo features dishes from Filipino history and culture such as "Atcharra ni Ibarra". Its sister restaurant is called Elías.
• The character of Padre Damaso was used to describe Catholic priests, as Carlos Celdran did during a Mass.
• A fruit wine has its own brand which is called María Clara Sangria.[45]

• List of books banned by governments
• El filibusterismo
• Mga Ibong Mandaragit

• Original text in Spanish (complete novel)
• Book notes/Summary in Tagalog (Noli Me Tangere)
• Book notes/Summary in English (The Social Cancer)
• Complete English version (The Social Cancer)
• Full Text English translation
• Complete text: HTML, images, OCR (in Spanish)
• Charles Derbyshire English translation
• Pascual Poblete Tagalog translation
• Noli Me Tangere public domain audiobook at LibriVox
• Noli Me Tangere: Deciphered in Filipino
• Rizal's Little Odyssey
• Noli Me Tangere 13-episode television series from the Cultural Center of the Philippines
• ¡Caiñgat Cayo!
• Opere di José Rizal, versione italiana di Vasco Caini