Overview
Rizal's first novel -- the Noli Me Tangere-- is a scathing, full-scale indictment of the Philippine political and religious regime. In this novel, Rizal tried to do what no one has been willing to do -- he replied to the calumnies which, for centuries, have been heaped upon us and our country; he described the state of our society, our life, our beliefs, our hopes, our desires, our laments, and our grievances. And what is surprising is that he has unmasked the hypocrisy, which under the cloak of religion, came among us to deprive us, to brutalize us. Rizal distinguished the true religion from the false, from the superstitious, from that which traffics with the Sacred Word to extract money, to make us believe in foolishness which Catholicism would blush at if it had knowledge of it. Moreover, he unveiled what lay hidden behind the deceptive and brilliant words of our government. Rizal did not let his fellowmen off the hook, though. He had also told our fellowmen of our faults, our vices, our culpable and shameful apathy with regards to these miseries. It may be noted that the facts Rizal had related are all true and real.
The facts Rizal brought to his fellowmen's attention through Noli Me Tangere:

The corruption and brutality of Spanish priests and the injustices to the Indios.

The Friars have made the Catholic religion an instrument for enriching themselves and perpetuating themselves in power by seeking to coerce the ignorant Filipino in fanaticism and superstitions instead of teaching them true Catholicism.

The Noli Me Tangere is, therefore, not merely an attack on the Spanish colonial regime. It is a charter nationalism. It calls on the Filipino to recover his self-confidence, to appreciate his own worth, to return to the heritage of his ancestors, to assert himself as the equal of the Spaniard.

In his novel, Rizal has given a sort of encouragement to his countrymen to struggle against their bad qualities, and afterwards they have reformed.

Noli Me Tangere is a Spanish-language novel by Filipino writer and national hero José 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. The Noli was inspired by the American Novel Uncle Tom's Cabin.

Where does its name came from?
The title of Noli Me Tangere is a Latin phrase, which means "Touch Me Not." Basically this phrase was not originally conceived by Rizal, for he admitted taking it from the Bible. It is from the book of St. John (Chap 20:13-17). It was said that on the First Easter Sunday, St Mary Magdalene visited Jesus in the tomb, who had just risen from the dead.
"Touch Me Not, I am not yet ascended to my Father, but to go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father, and to my God and your God."

Additionally, 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 Dámaso, Fray Sibyla, Lieutenant Guevarra, Doña Victorina, and other prominent figures. In an unfortunate incident, Father Dámaso, 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. Ibarra's 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 filibuster--an allegation brought forth by Father Dámaso because of Don Rafael's non-participation in confession and mass rites. Father Dámaso's animosity against Ibarra's 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 collector's 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 Dámaso 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 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 Ibarra's plans; instead he carries through his father's plan of putting up a school, since he believes that education would pave the way to his country's 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 Dámaso again insults him. Ibarra ignores the priest's insolence, but when the latter slanders the memory of his dead father, he is no longer able to restrain himself and lunges at Father Dámaso, 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 Dámaso 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, Ibarra's 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 Tiago's 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 Ibarra's 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 Dámaso alluding to their unborn child; and that she, Maria Clara, is therefore not the daughter of Capitan Tiago, but of Father Dámaso.

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 latter's 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 Dámaso to confine her into a nunnery. Father Dámaso 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 Rizal's purposes in writing it. The scene in the cockpit sarcastically portrays the humiliating effects of the Filipinos' passion for gambling. The vivid All Soul's Day dialogue of the Tertiaries on the gaining of indulgence is a condemnation of fanaticism and superstition. The fiesta sermon of Father Dámaso 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 book's 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.

Rizal's 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 self-seekers, 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 Rizal's exposé 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 the Filipina, 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 self-confidence, 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 Rizal's first novel. He was 26 at its publication. This book was historically significant and was instrumental in the establishing of the Filipino's sense of national identity. The book indirectly influenced a revolution although the author, José 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 in Madrid, Spain. Half of it was done by the time he left for Paris, and it was printed in Berlin, Germany. Vicente Blasco Ibáñez, a well-known 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 Malacañáng 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 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. 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 Philippines because of their portrayal of corruption and abuse by the country's Spanish government and clergy. A character which has become a classic in the Philippines is the priest "Father Dámaso" which reflects the covert fathering of illegitimate children by members of the Spanish clergy. In the story, Father Dámaso 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 on December 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.

Major Characters
Crisostomo Ibarra- the main character.

Basilio - son of Sisa


Fray Damaso

He is the first parish priest in San Diego; he is very abusive.
He symbolizes the Spanish friars of Rizal's time.
Fray Salvi

He is a Franciscan parish priest of San Diego.
Because he is interested in Maria Clara, he and Padre Damaso devised a plan to break Ibarra and Maria Clara apart. They were successful.
Doña Victorina

Her fanatical adulation of the Spaniards leads her to imitate the very actions and attitudes of the Spanish women.
It may be said that she symbolizes the Filipinos in our society who are ashamed of their own race and nationality.

Doña Consolacion

She is a Filipino woman married to a Spaniard.
Her very actions and way of dressing will lead people to think that she is a whore.
Elias

He believes that justice can be obtained only through revolution --- reforms simply won't do.
He symbolizes the very root of the Filipino culture before the coming of the Spaniards, which remained strong and unbroken by the Spanish culture.

Pilosopong Tasyo

He is a wise man.
He embodies the intelligent people, who never left the country but instead educated themselves in a religious institution.

Significance
This novel is very similar to Dumas's French classic The Count of Monte Cristo. Both narratives illustrate a man's will to avenge himself and reclaim his beloved fiancée. He craftily devises a plan of revenge and retribution by a change in identity.

Scholars and historians interpret the novel as representative of Rizal's dilemma to reconcile his faltering hope for securing his country's independence with his belief in a nonviolent struggle. The style and content are said to sound closer to a dialogue between two opposing sides, rather than to a free-flowing narrative. Many agree that Simoun's death and Father Florentino's lamentations ultimately reaffirm Rizal's conviction that freedom could be achieved without the need for bloodshed. Some interpretations however, have insisted that Rizal in fact does not condemn violent revolution but instead implies a point of view that the Philippines and the Filipinos are not ready for armed uprising and must instead entrust the future to the youth and allow them proper education. This claim is strengthened by the constant emphasis on young students and their academic misfortunes at the hands of the corrupt and incompetent Spanish ruled educational system.