NOLI ME

TANGERE,
CONTEXT
AND
CONTENT
NOLI ME TANGERE,
CONTEXT AND CONTENT
– JOSE RIZAL’S FIRST NOVEL.
– CONSIDERED ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT WRITEN
OUTPUTS AT THE HEIGT OF HIS INTELLECTUAL ENDEAVORS IN
EUROPE.
– THIS NOVEL, RIZAL GATHERED HIS ACADEMIC INSIGHTS AS HE
TAPPED HIS KNOWLEDGE OF VARIOUS FIELDS AND WOVE A
NARRATIVE THAT AIMED TO REPRESENT, IF NOT EXPOSE, THE
REALITIES OF NINETEENTH CENTURY COLONIAL LIFE IN THE
PHILIPPINES.
NOLI ME TANGERE,
CONTEXT AND CONTENT
– MANY APPRECIATE THE NOLI FOR ITS NARRATIVE THAT
TAKES THE READERS, THROUGH THE EYES OF THE
CHARACTERS
– ON A JOURNEY OF LOVE AND DECEPTION, STRUGGLES
AND TRIUMPHS
– PRESENTS PRESSING QUESTIONS ABOUT POWER AND
SOCIAL IN EQUALITIES
NOLI ME TANGERE,
CONTEXT AND CONTENT
– INTENDED LEARNING OUTCOME:

 DESCRIBE THE CONTEXT OF THE PUBLICATION OF

THE NOLI ME TANGERE
 DISCUSS THE MAJOR ELEMENTS OF THE NOLI ME
TANGERE AS A NOVEL.
NOLI ME TANGERE,
CONTEXT AND CONTENT
VOCABULARIES

NOVEL- A LONG WRITTEN STORY MOST OFTEN ABOUT

FICTIONAL EVENTS AND CHARACTERS
SETTING (IN A NOVEL)- THE CONTENT IN WHICH THE EVENTS
TAKE PLACE; COVERS GEOGRAPHICAL AREAS IN PARTICULAR
PERIODS OF TIME
PLOT- THE FLOW OF THE NARRATIVE IN A STORY
 NOLI ME TANGERE,
CONTEXT AND CONTENT
THE PUBLICATION OF THE NOLI ME TANGERE
AS A SOJOURNER IN EUROPE, RIZAL PARTICIPATED IN THE
MOVEMENT OF THE ILUSTRADOS TO UTILIZE PROPAGANDA TO
CAMPAIGN FOR REFORMS TO THE PHILIPPINES.
 NOLI ME TANGERE,
CONTEXT AND CONTENT
UTILIZING THEIR INTELLECTUAL ABILITY, THE
ILLUSTRADOS RELEASED VARIOUS WRITTEN OUTPUTS
FROM NEWS BITS, TO FEATURE ARTICLES, AND
COMMENTARIES.
THEY ALSO PRODUCED CREATIVE OUTPUTS FROM
SATIRICAL PIECES TO WORLD-CLASS PAINTINGS.
WITHIN WORDS WAS CLEARLY EVIDENT IN ONE OF
HIS MOST FAMOUS WORKS, HIS FIRST NOVEL.
NOLI ME TANGERE,
CONTEXT AND CONTENT
THE IDEA OF PUBLISHING A BOOK WAS NOT ALIEN TO
RIZAL. IN A MEETING OF ILLUSTRADOS IN 1884, HE PROPOSED
TO WRITE A BOOK PROJECT TO BE DONE COLLABOATIVELY
WITH HIS FELLOW WRITERS.
UNFORTUNATELY, THE PROJECT DID NOT MATERIALIZE.
HE EVENTUALLY DECIDED TO WRITE A NOVEL ON HIS OWN.
HE STARTED TO WORK ON THE PROJECT IN 1884 AND
COMPLETED IT IN 1887.
NOLI ME TANGERE,
CONTEXT AND CONTENT
MANY OF HIS BIOGRAPHERS CITE SEVERAL WORKS
THAT INFLUENCED RIZAL IN THE WRITING OF THE NOLI.
ONE OF THESE IS JUAN LUNA’S PAINTING, SPOLARIUM,
WHICH DEPICTED THE SUFFERINGS FACED BY THE
HUMANITY IN THE FACE OF INEQUALITIES.
ANOTHER IS UNCLE TOM’S CABIN, A NOVEL BY
HARRIET BEECHER STOWE THAT DEALTH WITH SLAVERY IN
AMERICA.
NOLI ME TANGERE,
CONTEXT AND CONTENT
RIZAL FINISHED THE FIRST HALF OF THE NOVEL IN SPAIN,
SUPPOSEDLY THE OTHER HALF IN FRANCE, THEN COMPLETED THE
DRAFT IN 1886.
THE NOVEL WAS PUBLISHED THE FOLLOWING YEAR IN
GERMANY. LACK OF FUNDS DELAYED THE BOOK’S PUBLICATION
UNTIL A FELLOW ILLUSTRADO, MAXIMO VIOLA, INSISTED ON
LENDING HIM 300 PESOS FOR THE PRINTING OF THE FIRST 2,000
COPIES.
BY 1887, RIZAL WAS ALREADY SENDING OUT COPIES OF THE
NOLI TO HIS FRIENDS AND THE BOOK BEGAN TO TAKE FLIGHT.
NOLI ME TANGERE,
CONTEXT AND CONTENT
MOTIVATIONS BEHIND WRITING THE NOLI ME TANGERE

– THE TITLE, NOLI METANGERE, HAD BIBLICAL REFERENCE TO THE

GOSPEL OF THE JOHN IN WHICH JESUS APPEARD TO MARY
MAGDALENE AND UTTERED THESE WORDS: “TOUCH ME NOT,
FOR I AM NOT YET ASCENDED TO MY FATHER”
– THE CHOICE OF THE TITLE ACCORDING TO RIZAL WAS FITTING
BECAUSE HE INTENDED TO WRITE ABOUT THEMES THAT WERE
TABOO IN THE PHILIPPINES FOR CENTURIES; THINGS THAT
PEOPLE DARED NOT TOUCH.
NOLI ME TANGERE,
CONTEXT AND CONTENT
– ACCORDING TO HIS BIOGRAPHERS, RIZAL FIRST
PLANNED TO WRITE HIS NOVEL IN FRENCH,
CONSIDERED TO BE THE LANGUAGE OF THE
INTELLECTUALS IN EUROPE AT THAT TIME. HE,
HOWEVER, SHIFTED TO SPANISH BECAUSE HE
INTENDED TO REACH OUT TO HIS COUNTRYMEN IN
THE PHILIPPINES.
NOLI ME TANGERE,
CONTEXT AND CONTENT
RIZAL EXPLAINED:
“I MUST WAKE FROM ITS SLUMBER THE SPIRIT OF MY
COUNTRY…I MUST FIRST PROPOSE TO MY COUNTRYMEN AN
EXAMPLE WHICH THEY CAN STRUGGLE AGAINST THEIR BAD
QUALITIES, AND AFTERWARDS , WHEN THEY HAVE
REFORMED, MANY WRITERS WOULD RISE UP TO PRESENT
MY COUNTRY TO PROUD EUROPE”(qtd. In Schumacher,
1991,p.93).
– IN THE INITIAL PAGES OF THE
NOLI ME TANGERE, THE
DEDICATION TITLED “A MI
PATRIA” CLEARLY ARTICULATED
RIZAL’S PURPOSE FOR WRITING
THE NOVEL’
THE PROJECT OF WRITING THE NOLI
ME TANGERE, AS STATED WAS
GEARED TOWARDS EXPOSING THE
ILLS OF THE PHILIPPINE COLONIAL
SOCIETY UNDER SPAIN. THUS,
THROUGH THE PASSAGES WITHIN
THE NOLI ME TANGERE, READERS
ALSO GET GLIMPSE OF HOW RIZAL
SAW HIS COUNTRY.
NOLI ME TANGERE,
CONTEXT AND CONTENT
PLOT
THE STORY OF THE NOLI ME TANGERE FOLLOWED THE
LIFE OF JUAN CRISOSTOMO IBARRA AFTER HE RETURNED TO
THE PHILIPPINES FROM STUDYING IN EUROPE. THE NOVEL
OPENED WITH CAPITAN TIAGO PREPARING A HOMECOMING
GATHERING FOR THE YOUNG ILLUSTRADO. THROUGHOUT THE
PAGES OF THE NOVEL, THE CHARACTERS COULD BE SEEN
NAVIGATING THE COMPLEX REALITIES OF COLONIAL
PHILIPPINES.
NOLI ME TANGERE,
CONTEXT AND CONTENT
– IBARRA WAS SHOWN TO BE REKINDLING LINKS WITH HIS
BETROTHED MARIA CLARA. BUT NOT EVERYTHING WAS FINE
AND GREAT FOR IBARRA. UPON HIS RETURN, HE LEARNED
ABOUT THE ILLS THAT OVERWHELMEDHIS TOWN AS WELL
AS THE ABUSES OF THE FRIARS TO WHICH HIS LATE FATHER
FELL VICTIM TO, IBARRA FOUND AN ANTAGONIST IN PADRE
DAMASO, THE FORMER CURATE OF SAN DIEGO WHO
ORDERED THAT THE CORPSE OF HIS FATHER BE DISCLOSED
AND REBURRIED IN THE CHINESE CEMETERY
NOLI ME TANGERE,
CONTEXT AND CONTENT
– DESPITE THESE PERSONAL TRAVIALS, IBARRA PERSEVERED TO
FULFILL THE PLAN OF BUILDING A SCHOOL IN SAN DIEGO,
STAYING TRUE TI HIS BELIEF THAT EDUCATION WAS CRUCIAL
FOR HIS NATION’S PROGRESS. IBARRA ALMOST GOT KILLED
HAD IT OR NOT FOR ELIAS, A BOATMAN, WHO SAVED HIM.
ELIAS ALSO PREVIOUSLY CAUTIONED IBARRA ABOUT HIS
ACTIONS THAT COULD ANGER THE FRIARS. AFTER THE
INCIDENT, IBARRA ORGANIZED A LUNCHEON.
NOLI ME TANGERE,
CONTEXT AND CONTENT
– HERE, ANOTHER CONFRONTATION OCCURRED BETWEEN
IBARRA AND DAMASO WHO ATTENDED THE LUNCHEON
UNVITED. IN A FIT OF ANGER, IBARRA TOOK A KNIFE
AGAINST DAMASO’S NECK THREATENED SLIT HIS THROAT
AS HE TOLD EVERYONE TO THE ABUSES COMMITTED BY
DAMASO AND THE DESECRATION HE DID TO IBARRA’S
FATHER. MARIA CLARA CALMED IBARRA AND
PREVENTED HIM FROM KILLING THE FRIAR.
NOLI ME TANGERE,
CONTEXT AND CONTENT
– DAMASO IN AN ACT OF REVENGE, CONVINCED CAPITAN TIAGO,
THE FATHER OF MARIA CLARA, TO NOT ALLOW HIS DAIGHTER TO
MARRY IBARRA.
– AFTER SOME TIME, A REVOLT WAS BLAMED ON IBARRA, WHICH
CAUSED HIS INCARCECRATION. WITH THE HELP OF ELIAS . HE
ESCAPED AND WENT TO SEE MARIA CLAEA WHO WAS SOON
MARRYING THE MAN HER FATHER CHOSE FOR HER. IN A
HEARTHBREAKING CONFRONTATION, IBARRA AND MARIA CLARA
EXCHANGED ACCUSATIONS AND IN THE PROCESS, IT WAS
REVEALED THAT DAMASO WAS THE TRUE FATHER OF MARIA
CLARA.
NOLI ME TANGERE,
CONTEXT AND CONTENT
– AS TURMOIL AND CONFUSION OVERCOME THE TOWN,
MARIA CLARA THOUGHT IBARRA HAD BEEN KILLED. THIS
CAUSED HER ENDLESS GRIEF. SHE ASK TO BE CONFINED TO A
NUNNERY LEST SHE TAKE HER OWN LIFE. IT WAS LATER
REVEALED THAT IBARRA WAS NOT DEAD AND THAT ELIAS
WAS THE ONE SERIOUSLY SHOT. IN THE LATTER PASSAGES,
THE DYING ELIAS WAS WAITING FOR IBARRA BUT INSTEAD,
MET AND TALK TO THE YOUNG BASILIO.
NOLI ME TANGERE,
CONTEXT AND CONTENT
– HE INSTRUCTED THE ORPHANED BOY (HIS MOTHER SISA,
WHO BECAME INSANE LOOKING FOR HER YOUNG SONS,
HAD DIED) TO FIND THE TREASURE OF IBARRA BURRIED
IN THE CEMETERY AND USE IT TO GET AN EDUCATION.
HE REMINDED BASILIO TO NEVER LOSE HOPE AND IF
ONE DAY, FREEDOM AND PROGRESS WOULD COME TO
HIS COUNTRY, TO NOT FORGET THOSE WHO LABORED IN
THE NIGHT.
NOLI ME TANGERE,
CONTEXT AND CONTENT
– WITHIN THIS GENERAL CONTOUR OF THE NARRATIVE,
RIZAL WOVE A COMPLEX STORY AND SUBPLOTS.
READING THROUGH THE NOVEL, DIFFERENT
CHARACTERS AND THEIR CORRESPONDING STORIES
UNFOLDED AS TOLD THOURGH THE VOICE OF AN
UNSEEN NARRATOR. TRULY, THE PAGES OF THE NOLI
REFLECTED THE LIVES OF PEOPLE LIVING IN THE
COMPLICATED WORLD OF COLONIAL PHILIPPINES.
NOLI ME TANGERE,
CONTEXT AND CONTENT

End of the topic