Dela Cruz, Bryan D.

FINAL DRAFT
4.2 / BSED Major in English
Teaching Assessment of Literature

Kilgore Lesson Plan on Noli Me Tangere by Dr. Jose P. Rizal

Part I—Objectives and Rationale

Objectives

1. Analyze the relevance of Noli Me Tangere in the society we belong today.

2. Examine what made the characters do what they did in the story.
3. Compare how does the choices and personalities of the characters are similar to
themselves.
4. Show their own version of the story by adding twists to its ending that is eye-catching for
the readers.

B. Subject Matter

Noli Me Tangere by Dr. Jose P. Rizal

C. Rationale

Written in Spanish and published in 1887, José Rizal’s Noli Me Tangere played a crucial
role in the political history of the Philippines. Drawing from experience, the conventions of the
nineteenth-century novel, and the ideals of European liberalism, Rizal offered up a devastating
critique of a society under Spanish colonial rule.

The plot revolves around Crisostomo Ibarra, mixed-race heir of a wealthy clan, returning
home after seven years in Europe and filled with ideas on how to better the lot of his
countrymen. Striving for reforms, he is confronted by an abusive ecclesiastical hierarchy and a
Spanish civil administration by turns indifferent and cruel. The novel suggests, through plot
developments, that meaningful change in this context is exceedingly difficult, if not impossible.

The death of Ibarra’s father, Don Rafael, prior to his homecoming, and the refusal of a
Catholic burial by Padre Damaso, the parish priest, provokes Ibarra into hitting the priest, for
which Ibarra is excommunicated. The decree is rescinded, however, when the governor general
intervenes. The friar and his successor, Padre Salvi, embody the rotten state of the clergy. Their
tangled feelings—one paternal, the other carnal—for Maria Clara, Ibarra’s sweetheart and rich
Capitan Tiago’s beautiful daughter, steel their determination to spoil Ibarra’s plans for a school.
The town philosopher Tasio wryly notes similar past attempts have failed, and his sage
commentary makes clear that all colonial masters fear that an enlightened people will throw off
the yoke of oppression.

Precisely how to accomplish this is the novel’s central question, and one which Ibarra
debates with the mysterious Elias, with whose life his is intertwined. The privileged Ibarra
favors peaceful means, while Elias, who has suffered injustice at the hands of the authorities,
believes violence is the only option.

Ibarra’s enemies, particularly Salvi, implicate him in a fake insurrection, though the
evidence against him is weak. Then Maria Clara betrays him to protect a dark family secret,
public exposure of which would be ruinous. Ibarra escapes from prison with Elias’s help and
confronts her. She explains why, Ibarra forgives her, and he and Elias flee to the lake. But
chased by the Guardia Civil, one dies while the other survives. Convinced Ibarra’s dead, Maria
Clara enters the nunnery, refusing a marriage arranged by Padre Damaso. Her unhappy fate
and that of the more memorable Sisa, driven mad by the fate of her sons, symbolize the
country’s condition, at once beautiful and miserable.

Using satire brilliantly, Rizal creates other memorable characters whose lives manifest
the poisonous effects of religious and colonial oppression. Capitan Tiago; the social climber
Doña Victorina de Espadaña and her toothless Spanish husband; the Guardia Civil head and his
harridan of a wife; the sorority of devout women; the disaffected peasants forced to become
outlaws: in sum, a microcosm of Philippine society. In the afflictions that plague them, Rizal
paints a harrowing picture of his beloved but suffering country in a work that speaks eloquently
not just to Filipinos but to all who have endured or witnessed oppression.