SUMMARY OF EL FILIBUSTERISMO

The story of El Filibusterismo begins on board the clumsy, roundish shaped

steamer Tabo, so appropriately named. This steamer is sailing upstream the Pasig
from Manila to Laguna de Bay. Among the passengers are Simoun, the rich
jeweler; Doña Victorina, the ridiculously pro-Spanish native woman who is going
to Laguna in search of her henpecked husband, Tiburcio de Espadaña, who has
deserted her; Paulita Gomez, her beautiful niece; Ben-Zayb, a Spanish journalist
who writes silly articles about the Filipinos; Padre Sibyla, vice-rector of the
University of Santo Tomas; Padre Camorra, the parish priest of the town of Tiani;
Don Custodio, a pro-spanish Filipino holding a position in the government; Padre
Salvi, thin Franciscan friar and former cura of San Diego; Padre Irene, a kind friar
who was a friend of the Filipino students; Padre Florentino, a retired scholarly and
patriotic Filipino priest; Isagani, a poet-nephew of Padre Florentino and a lover of
Paulita; and Basilio, son of Sisa and promising medical student, whose medical
education is financed by his patron, Capitan Tiago. Simoun, a man of wealth and
mystery, is a very close friend and confidante of the Spanish governor general.
Because of his great influence in Malacañang, he was called the “Brown Cardinal”
or the “Black Eminence”. By using his wealth and political influence, he
encourages corruption in the government, promotes the oppression of the
masses, and hastens the moral degradation of the country so that the people may
become desperate and fight. He smuggles arms into the country with the help of
a rich Chinese merchant, Quiroga, who wants very much to be Chinese consul of
Manila. His first attempt to begin the armed uprising did not materialize because
at the last hour he hears the sad news that Maria Clara died in the nunnery. In his
agonizing moment of bereavement, he did not give the signal for the outbreak of
hostilities.
After a long time of illness brought about by the bitter loss of Maria Clara,
Simoun perfects his plan to overthrow the government. On the wedding of Paulita
Gomez and Juanito Pelaez, he gives a wedding gift to them a beautiful lamp. Only
he and his confidential associates, Basilio, know that when the wick of his lamp
burns lower the nitroglycerine, hidden in its secret compartment, will explode,
destroying the house where the wedding feast is going to be held killing all the
guests, including the governor general, the friars, and the government officials.
Simultaneously, Simoun’s followers will blow all the government buildings in
Manila. As the wedding feast begins, the poet Isagani, whom Paulita has rejected
because of his liberal ideas, is standing outside the house, watching sorrowfully
the merriment inside. Basilio, his friend, warns him to go away because the
lightened lamp will soon explode.
Upon hearing the horrible secret of the lamp, Isagani realizes that his
beloved Paulita was in grave danger. To save her life, he rushes into the house,
seizes the lightened lamp, and hurls it into the river, where it explodes. The
revolutionary plot was thus discovered. The soldiers cornered Simoun, but he
escaped. Mortally wounded, and carrying his treasure chest, he sought refuge in
the home of Padre Florentino by the sea. The Spanish authorities, however, learns
of his presence in the house of Padre Florentino. Lieutenant Perez of the Guardia
Civil informs the priest by letter that he would come at eight o’clock that night to
arrest Simoun. Simoun eluded arrest by taking poison. As he is dying, he confesses
to Padre Florentino, revealing his identity, his dastardly plan to use his wealth to
avenge himself, and his sinister aim to destroy his friends and enemies. The
confession of the dying Simoun is long and painful. It is already night when Padre
Florentino, wiping the sweat from his wrinkled brow, rises and begins to
meditate. He consoles the dying man saying: “God will forgive you Señor Simoun.
He knows that we are fallible. He has seen that you have suffered, and in
ordaining that the chastisement for your faults should come as death from the
very ones you have instigated to crime, we can see His infinite mercy. He has
frustrated your plans one by one, the best conceived, first by the death of Maria
Clara, then by a lack of preparation, then in some mysterious way. Let us bow to
His will and render Him thanks!” Watching Simoun die peacefully with a clear
conscience and at peace with God. Padre Florentino falls upon his knees and
prays for the dead jeweler. He takes the treasure chest and throws it into the sea;
as the waves close over the sinking chest.
 Compare and Contrast the Characters, the
Plot and the Theme of Noli Me Tangere and El
Filibusterismo

Noli me tangere and El filibusterismo are the two marked novels of our
national hero, Dr. Jose Rizal which are similar and different in some ways. Noli Me
Tangere and El Filibusterismo have similarities in terms of aim and purpose. Both
aim to enlighten the Filipinos on what is happening in the country. They want the
people to fight for their country and have the total freedom. In the Noli, Ibarra’s
character showed a soft spoken, patient, compassionate and idealistic in fact
little more than a projection of Jose Rizal into a series of possible events family
matters, romantic relationships, political life that are used to examine the internal
structure of Philippine society from the illustrado point of view. In the Fili,
featured a different Ibarra who portrayed the angry and vengeful side of him and
disguised himself as the wealthy jeweller named Simoun, he is determined to lure
the Spanish colonialists toward destruction by encouraging and exacerbating their
evils. A number of other characters from the Noli reappear, among them: Basilio,
whose mother and younger brother Crispin met tragic ends; Father Salvi, the
devious former curate of San Diego responsible for Crispin’s death, and who had
lusted after Ibarra’s love, Maria Clara; the idealistic schoolmaster from San Diego;
Captain Tiago, the wealthy widower and legal father of Maria Clara; and Doña
Victorina de Espadaña and her Spanish husband, the faux doctor Tiburcio, now
hiding from her with the indio priest Father Florentino at his remote parish on the
Pacific coast.
Noli Me Tangere (Touch Me Not) is 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. It is a romantic novel,
book of feeling, work of the heart, and contains freshness, color, humor, lightness
and wit despite that it depicts the sufferings of the Filipino people under the
Spanish rule.
 El Filibusterismo (The Reign of Greed) was written in dedication of the three
martyred priests namely Mariano Gomez, Jose Burgos and Jacinto Zamora
popularly known as GOMBURZA, whose tragic execution left unforgettable
imprint in his mind. It is a political novel, book of the thought, work of the head
and comprise bitterness, hatred, pain, sorrow and violence. Like Noli Me Tangere,
El Fili aims at enlightening the society, and at bringing the Filipinos closer to the
truth. In this novel, the society is urged to open its eyes to reality and rebel
against the Spanish government for its oppression and abuse. El Filibusterismo is
far more dark and brutal than Noli me tangere. With many events of murder,
sexual abuse, and suicide, El Filibusterismo is a massive turning point not only for
the plot but also for the characters. Noli’s main purpose was to expose the abuses
of the Spanish friars and government officials while El Fili’s major theme is the
pretentious and often arrogant attitude of local Spanish leaders. These two novels
helped awaken the Filipinos to fight for their freedom and stand with their right.
 Ideology of Rizal that he wanted to
Portray in his Two Novels
Jose Rizal’s ideals were a product and composite of the teachings of what is
known as the philosophy of Enlightenment. Friar injustices and Spanish misrule.
Jose Rizal’s writings transformed his stature from a writer and propagandist
against social and religious injustices of Spanish rule in the Philippines that made
him into a national hero. He had far more writings of note and importance.
However, his two novels, Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo are his most
prominent achievements. In these works, his main mouthpieces of change were
fictional characters: Crisostomo Ibarra as Ibarra in Noli; alias Simoun, in Fili, Elias,
Father Tolentino, and Tacio (the philosopher). All other characters, Sisa and her
sons, Maria Clara, Father Damaso, Father Salvi, etc. were exhibits of the cruelties
of his times on the lives and fortunes of Filipinos. Precociously gifted. As an
intellectually precocious child, Jose Rizal went to study in the best schools of the
country, as he became a young man. Rizal excelled in school in part because of his
intellectual gifts but possibly also much more, because of high motivation to excel
and learn. Highly intellectually gifted, he came from a well-to-do family that
valued education. He was the only sibling (among 10) to go to Spain for studies.
Thus, so much was sacrificed to get him to achieve. Spain was highly dominated
by Church influence in government. In other parts of Europe, liberal ideas had led
the path toward separating Church and State, though in different forms.
Along with other Filipino expatriates of the time, Rizal would be vocal in
making the case for the reform of Spain’s colonial policies. The ideas of
Enlightenment had breezed through Europe the century before, but Spain
remained largely less affected by these strong winds of thought. Rizal’s work
comes from the influences of the philosophy of Enlightenment. The political and
social reforms that he espoused embodies general ideas of tolerance, more
liberty and the need for civil government. Foreign study and work. In 1882 at 21
years of age, Rizal traveled to Spain to take up medicine in the University of
Madrid. He further obtained a degree in philosophy and letters after finishing his
licentiate in medicine. Medicine was to steady his occupation. However, his heart
and mind came to be more focused on the injustices inflicted by Spanish misrule
over his country of birth. To accomplish these, he would rely more fully on family
support. His heart was in his writing. In that mode, there was income-support to
be earned.
His two novels were written and published in Europe. His Noli was written
mainly in Spain but finished and published in Germany in 1887. His El
Filibusterismo was written on his second trip to Europe and was printed in 1891 in
Belgium. Rizal was the party type, the debater in public discussions (a mainstay of
the propaganda movement of Filipino exiles who tried to influence Spain’s
colonial policies in Madrid), and a propagator of ideas of his own original
thoughts. “Ideas of the Enlightenment.” The advancement of individual liberty,
social progress, tolerance, scientific knowledge, constitutional government, and
separation of church and state: these were the main ideas of the Enlightenment.
Together, they tended to undermine the authority of both monarchy and Church.
They questioned the orthodoxy of fixed ideas. The biographies of Rizal have not
focused on the details of his intellectual growth and the influences of his mentors
and forebears. Though he massively picked learning from history, the classics and
literature, there are few references concerning those writers who have directly
influenced his thinking. In his writings, he was sparse in revealing such heritage
either. He has a great facility in absorbing and retelling contemporary events of
his times. He was quick, direct, and cutting in his political writings. And his
arguments in his more thoughtful pieces tell us how he absorbed and learned
from others.

GROUP 3

Bautista, Sherlyn

Calfoforo, Christine Mae

Casa, Jade Marie

Espiel, Angela Ellien

Ordoñez, Geshane

Pelayo, John Rey

Santiaguel, Hilyn