noli me Tangere

Noli Me Tangere is a Spanishlanguage novel by Filipino writer and national

hero Jos Rizal, first published in 1887 in Berlin. The
novel is commonly referred to by its shortened name Noli;
the English translation was originally titled The Social
Cancer, although recent publications have retained the
original Latin.
Title
The literal translation of the title is touch me not. Rizal
derived this phrase from the Bible, specifically
the Gospel of St. John 20:13-17, which describes how
lepers were made to wear signs bearing these words to
warn passers-by of their condition. Touch me not were
also the warning words spoken by Jesus to Mary
Magdalene upon rising from the dead. In the Gospel of
John, Jesus uttered thisbecause he has not
accomplished his mission (after rising from the dead, he
must ascend to heaven to see God the Father) and hence,
cannot be touched. French writer D. Blumentritt says that
Noli me tangere is in fact the professional nickname
used by ophthalmologists (such as Rizal himself) for
cancer of the eyelids.

Plot summary
Having completed his studies in Europe, young Juan
Crisostomo Ibarra comes back to his motherland after a
7-year absence. In his honor, Capitan Tiago (Don Santiago
de los Santos) throws a get-together party, which is
attended by Father Dmaso, Fray Sibyla, Lieutenant
Guevarra, Doa Victorina, and other prominent figures. In
an unfortunate incident, Father Dmaso, former curate of
San Diego, belittles and slanders the young man. But the
ever-gracious and diplomatic Ibarra brushes off the insult
and takes no offense; he instead politely excuses himself
and leaves the party because of an allegedly important
task. Ibarras sweetheart, Maria Clara, an extraordinarily
beautiful lady is known as the daughter of Capitan Tiago,
an affluent resident of Binondo. The day after the
humbling party, Ibarra goes to see Maria Clara. Their
long-standing love is 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 Guevarra
(a Guardia Civil), reveals to him the incidents preceding
the death of his father Don Rafael. Don Rafael was a rich
haciendero of the town. According to the Lieutenant, Don
Rafael was unjustly accused of being a heretic, in addition
to being a filibusteran allegation brought forth by Father
Dmaso because of Don Rafaels non-participation in
confession and mass rites. Father Dmasos animosity

against Ibarras father is aggravated by another incident.

Once Don Rafael saw a tax collector and a student
fighting. Out of compassion, he helped the child. The tax
collector was greatly irked and picked a fight with Don
Rafael. Unfortunately, the Spanish tax collector fell, hit
his head against a rock, and died. The collectors death
was blamed on Don Rafael, and he was arrested.
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 got sick and died in jail.
Still not content with what he had done, Father Dmaso
arranged for Don Rafaels 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 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 the river.
Revenge was not in Ibarras plans; instead he carries
through his fathers plan of putting up a school, since he
believes that education would pave the way to his
countrys liberation. During the inauguration of the
school, Ibarra would have been killed in a sabotage had
Elias not saved 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 her. After the inauguration, Ibarra hosts a luncheon

during which Father Dmaso again insults him. Ibarra

ignores the priests insolence, but when the latter
slanders the memory of his dead father, he is no longer
able to restrain himself and lunges at Father Dmaso,
prepared to stab the latter for his impudence. His beloved
Maria Clara stops him just in time. As a consequence, the
Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Church
excommunicates Ibarra. Father Dmaso takes this
opportunity to persuade the already-hesitant father of
Maria Clara to forbid his daughter from marrying Ibarra.
The priest wishes Maria Clara to marry a Spanish named
Linares who just arrived from Spain. With the help of the
Captain General, Ibarras excommunication is nullified
and the Archbishop decides to accept him as a member
of the Roman Catholic Church once again. But, as fate
would have it, some incident of which Ibarra had known
nothing about is blamed on him, and he is wrongly
arrested and imprisoned. But the accusation against him
is overruled because during the litigation that followed,
nobody could testify that he was indeed involved.
Unfortunately, his letter to Maria Clara somehow gets into
the hands of the jury and is manipulated such that it then
becomes evidence against him. Meanwhile, in Capitan
Tiagos residence, a party is being held to announce the
upcoming wedding of Maria Clara and Linares. Ibarra,
with the help of Elias, takes this opportunity and escapes
from prison. But before leaving, Ibarra talks to Maria Clara
and accuses her of betraying him, thinking that she gave

the letter he wrote her to the jury. Maria Clara explains to

Ibarra that she will never conspire against him but that
she was forced to surrender Ibarras letter to her in
exchange for the letters written by her mother even
before she, Maria Clara, was born. The letters were from
her mother, Pia Alba, to Father Dmaso alluding to their
unborn child; and that she, Maria Clara, is therefore not
the daughter of Capitan Tiago, but of Father Dmaso.
Afterwards, Ibarra and Elias board a boat and flee the
place. Elias instructs Ibarra to lie down and the former
covers the latter with grass to conceal the latters
presence. As luck would have it, they are spotted by their
enemies. Elias thinks he could outsmart them and jumps
into the water. The guards rain shots on the person in the
water, all the while not knowing that they are aiming at
the wrong man. Maria Clara, thinking that Ibarra has been
killed in the shooting incident, is greatly overcome with
grief. Robbed of hope and severely disillusioned, she asks
Father Dmaso to confine her into a nunnery. Father
Dmaso reluctantly agrees when Maria Clara threatens to
take her own life:the nunnery or death! Unbeknownst to
her, Ibarra is still alive and able to escape. It was Elias
who has taken the shots. It is Christmas Eve when Elias
arrives at the Ibarra forest, gravely wounded and barely
alive. It is in this forest that Elias finds Basilio and his
lifeless mother, Sisa. Elias dies without having seen the
liberation of his country.

Main points
Within the plot are episodes and images, which may not
have improved the unity and sequence of the story, but
effectively carry out Rizals purposes in writing it. The
scene in the cockpit sarcastically portrays the humiliating
effects of the Filipinos passion for gambling. The vivid All
Souls Day dialogue of the Tertiaries on the gaining of
indulgence is a condemnation of fanaticism and
superstition. The fiesta sermon of Father Dmaso
eloquently protests against the alleged hypocrisies and
tyranny of the friars. In these episodes perhaps, rather
than in the novel as a whole, lie the books power. The
ultimate message is not always clearly spelled out, but
the abuses and defects of the colonial regime are
explicitly revealed. The discussions of Elias and Ibarra
disclose possible solutions, and though Rizal is against a
bloody revolution, he states that it is inevitable if radical
reforms are not forthcoming. Rizals book persistently
unmasks contemporary Spaniards in the Philippines of
every kind. He exposes corruption and brutality of the
civil guards which drive good men to crime and banditry.
He focuses on an administration crawling with selfseekers, out to make their fortune at the expense of the
Filipinos, so that the few officials who are honest and
sincere are unable to overcome the treacherous workings
of the system, and their efforts to help the country often
end up in frustration or in self-ruin. The Noli is Rizals
expos of corrupt friars who have made the Catholic
religion an instrument for enriching and perpetuating
themselves in power by seeking to mire ignorant Filipinos
in fanaticism and superstition. According to Rizal, instead
of teaching Filipinos true Catholicism, they control the
government by opposing all progress and persecuting

members of the ilustrado unless they make themselves

their servile flatterers. Rizal does not, however, spare his
fellow countrymen. The superstitious and hypocritical
fanaticism of many who consider themselves religious
people; the ignorance, corruption, and brutality of the
Filipino civil guards; the passion for gambling unchecked
by the thought of duty and responsibility; the servility of
the wealthy Filipino towards friars and government
officials; the ridiculous efforts of Filipinos to dissociate
themselves from their fellowmen or to lord it over them
all these are ridiculed and disclosed. Nevertheless, Rizal
clearly implies that many of these failings are traceable
to the misguided policy of the government and the
questionable practices of the friars. Rizal nevertheless
balances the national portrait by highlighting the virtues
and good qualities of his unspoiled countryman: the
modesty and devotion of theFilipina, the unstinting
hospitality of the Filipino family, the devotion of parents
to their children and children to their parents, the deep
sense of gratitude, and the solid common sense of the
untutored peasant. The Noli is, therefore, not merely an
attack on the Spanish colonial regime; it is a charter for
nationalism. It calls on the Filipino to recover his selfconfidence, to appreciate his own worth, to return to the
heritage of his ancestors, and to assert himself as the
equal of the Spaniard. It insists on the need of education,
of dedication to the country, and of absorbing aspects of
foreign cultures that would enhance the native traditions.
Noli Me Tangere was Rizals first novel. He was 26 at its
publication. This book was historically significant and was
instrumental in the establishing of theFilipinos sense of
national identity. The book indirectly influenced a
revolution although the author, Jos Rizal, advocated non-

violent means and only direct representation to the

Spanish government. The novel was written in Spanish,
the language of the educated at a time when Filipinos
were markedly segregated by diverse native languages
and regional cultures. Rizal started writing
the Noli inMadrid, Spain. Half of it was done by the time
he left for Paris, and it was printed
in Berlin, Germany. Vicente Blasco Ibez, a wellknown writer and political activist, volunteered his
services as proofreader and consultant. He finished the
novel on December 1886 and published it with the
financial aid of Maximo Viola. The novel created so much
controversy that only a few days after his arrival,
Governor General Terrero summoned him to
the Malacang Palace and told him of the charges
saying that the Noli was full of subversive ideas. After a
discussion, the liberal Governor General was appeased;
but he mentioned that he was unable to offer resistance
against the pressure of the Church to take action against
the book. The persecution can be discerned from Rizals
letter to Leitmeritz: My book made a lot of noise;
everywhere, I am asked about it. They wanted
toanathematize 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. It is whispered that I want to
draw plans, that I have a foreign passport and that I
wander through the streets by night This novel and its
sequel, El filibusterismo (nicknamed Fili), were banned
in the Philippinesbecause of their portrayal of corruption

and abuse by the countrys Spanish government and

clergy. A character which has become a classic in
the Philippinesis the priest Father Dmaso which
reflects the covert fathering of illegitimate children by
members of the Spanish clergy. In the story, Father
Dmaso impregnates a woman. Copies were smuggled in
nevertheless, and when Rizal returned to the Philippines
after completing medical studies, he quickly ran afoul of
the local government. First exiled to Dapitan, he was
later arrested for inciting rebellion based largely on his
writings. Rizal was executed in Manila onDecember
30, 1896 at the age of thirty-five. The book was
instrumental in creating a unified racial Filipino identity
and consciousness, as many Filipinos previously identified
with their respective regions to the advantage of the
Spanish authorities. It lampooned, caricatured and
exposed various elements in the colonial society.