El filibusterismo

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Facsimile copy of the first page of the manuscript of El filibusterismo.
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Facsimile copy of the first page of the manuscript of El filibusterismo.

El filibusterismo is the second novel written by Dr. José P. Rizal and a sequel to Noli Me Tangere. He began the work in October of 1887 while practising medicine in Calamba. In London (1888), he made several changes to the plot and corrected a number of chapters that were already written. Rizal continued to work on this novel while in Paris, Madrid, and Brussels and, on March 29, 1891, finally completed the manuscript in Biarritz.

Contents

[edit] Synopsis

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The book deals with the return of the protagonist of Noli Me Tangere, Crisóstomo Ibarra, under the guise of a wealthy jeweler named Simoun. Disillusioned by the abuses of the Spanish, Ibarra abandons his pacifist beliefs in order to return to the Philippines and start a violent revolution. Noli Me Tangere's Basilio, now a young man, is recruited by Ibarra to aid him by detonating a bomb at a social gathering, signalling the beginning of a revolution. However, Basilio warns his friend Isagani of the plot. Realizing that the woman he loves is in the building, Isagani throws the bomb into the river, averting the explosion and the revolution.

Implicated in these matters, Simoun commits suicide by taking poison, and finds a final resting place with a priest, Father Florentino, who hears his last confession and assures him that not all hope is lost. The priest, upon Simoun's death, commends the jewels into the sea, remarking that the jewels, once used to bribe and corrupt people, would hopefully be found one day to be used for a meaningful purpose.

This novel is very similar to Alexandre Dumas' French classic The Count of Monte Cristo. Both illustrate a man's will to avenge himself and get back his beloved fiancée. On both novels, the main characters changed their identity and slowly contemplates a plan of vengeance and retribution.

[edit] Major Characters

Simoun - Crisostomo Ibarra in disguise, left for dead at the end of Noli Me Tangere, has resurfaced as the wealthy jeweller. Simoun, now sporting a beard, blue-tinted glasses, and a revolver. Fueled by his mistreatment at the hands of the Spaniards and his fury at Maria Clara's fate, he has since shed his pacifist image and become the titular "filibustero", pretending to side with the upper class and encouraging them to enslave the masses, while in reality siding with the masses and urging them to revolt against the oppressive Spanish regime. This time, he does not attempt to fight the authorities with knowledge, but by force, devising a plot to set off a bomb disguised as a beautiful lamp at a wedding. Unfortunately for him, his plan fails, and he commits suicide by consuming poison.

Basilio - After the tragic deaths of his mother and younger brother, Basilio heeds the advice of the dying boatman, Elias, and travels to Manila to study. At first he is frowned upon by his peers and teachers not only because of the color of his skin but also because of his tattered appearance, but redeems himself in their eyes by participating in a fencing contest--and winning. He soon becomes an exceptional medical student, but his plans to graduate and become a full-time doctor are postponed by an encounter with Simoun, who, upon bringing up the deaths of his relatives, convinces him to aid him in his plots. At first, the young man is reluctant, but the death of his sweetheart Juliana drives him to fight wholeheartedly by Simoun's side. He helps Simoun smuggle in a bomb into a wedding reception, but relents later on and warns his best friend Isagani of the impending danger.

Isagani - Basilio's best friend. As Basilio is an aspiring doctor, Isagani is a poet, and he, along with Basilio, plans to establish a school wherein indios such as themselves may learn Spanish. Unlike Basilio, he does not get along well with Simoun, and is much more emotional and dramatic than his friend. Throughout the course of the series, Isagani experiences a rocky relationship with his much richer girlfriend Paulita Gomez, who eventually gets married to Isagani's fellow student, Juanito Pelaez. Heartbroken, Isagani refuses at first to listen to Basilio when the latter warns him to get away from the would-be epicenter of the explosion, but eventually foils Simoun's plan, racing into the reception in time to prevent the explosion from happening.

Kabesang Tales - Once a farmer owning a prosperous sugarcane plantation, he eventually gave everything to a bunch of unscrupulous Spanish friars and could not get it all back once he realized his mistake. From then on, everything went downhill for Tales: his wife and most of his children died of water-borne diseases, his son, Tano, became a civil guard and never returned, he was captured by bandits and his daughter Juliana had to work as a maid to get enough ransom money, and his father, Tandang Selo, suffered a stroke and became mute. His personality becomes darker after all this suffering and resorts to killing people. Ironically, he died eventually after his own son, who became a guardia civil, accidentally shot him in an encounter.

Don Custodio - A famous "journalist" who was asked by the students about his decision for the Academy of Spanish Language. In reality, he is an ordinary fellow who married a rich woman in order to become famous. He is very good at debating with others, hates when others also believe in what he believes in and praises the Indios, yet hates them. He has a mistress, a dancer named Pepay.

Paulita Gomez - The girlfriend of Isagani and the niece of Donya Victorina, the old Filipina, who, in Noli Me Tangere, is the wife of the quack doctor Tiburcio. In the end, she and Juanito Pelaez are wed together, and she dumps Isagani, believeing that she will have no future when she weds him.

Padre Florentino - Isagani's godfather, and a secular priest. He is the priest whom Simoun confides his feelings at the end of the novel. After Simoun dies, he throws the latter's treasure in the ocean. He plays the harmonium.

[edit] Significance

Scholars and historians interpret the novel as being representative of Rizal's struggle to reconcile his faltering hope for a peaceful reclamation of independence with his belief in 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 armed struggle.

[edit] Adaptations

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[edit] See also

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