El filibusterismo

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Title El filibusterismo

Facsimile copy of the first page of the manuscript of El filibusterismo.
Author José P. Rizal
Country Philippines
Language Spanish
Genre(s) Novel
Publisher
Released 1891
Media type Print (Hardback & Paperback)
ISBN NA

El filibusterismo (The Reign of Greed as the alternative English title) is the second novel written by Philippine national hero José Rizal. It is a sequel to Noli Me Tangere and like the first book, was written in Spanish. He began the work in October of 1887 while practising medicine in Calamba. In London (1888), he made several changes to the plot and revised a number of chapters. Rizal continued to work on his manuscript while in Paris, Madrid, and Brussels, finally completing it on March 29, 1891 in Biarritz. It was published the same year in Ghent.

Contents

[edit] Plot summary

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The book narrates 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 in 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 at the home of 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 one day be hopefully found to be used for a meaningful purpose.

This novel is very similar to Alexandre Dumas, père'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.

[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. He concocts a plot to set off a bomb disguised as a beautiful lamp at a wedding where important members of civil society and the church hierarchy are in attendance. 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 shabby 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 reactive than his friend. Throughout the course of the series, Isagani experiences a rocky relationship with his rich 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 was forced to give everything to a bunch of unscrupulous Spanish friars. From then on, everything went downhill for Tales: his son, Tano, became a civil guard; he was captured by bandits; his daughter Juliana had to work as a maid to get enough ransom money for his freedom; and his father, Tandang Selo, suffered a stroke and became mute. His personality becomes darker after all this suffering and he resorts to killing people. His father died eventually after his own son, who became a guardia civil, accidentally shot Tandang Selo in an encounter.

Don Custodio - A famous "journalist" who was asked by the students about his decision for the Academia de Castellano. In reality, he is an ordinary fellow who married a rich woman in order to become famous. He is very good at debates, 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, and she dumps Isagani, believeing that she will have no future if she marries him.

Padre Florentino - Isagani's godfather, and a secular priest. He is the priest whom Simoun confides to at the end of the story. When Simoun dies, he throws the latter's treasure into the ocean. He was engaged to be married, but chose the priesthood instead. The story hints at the ambivalence of his decision when he chooses an assignment to a remote place, living in solitude near the sea. Speaking through the character of Florentino, Rizal reaffirms his condemnation of a bloody revolution and his commitment to peaceful reforms.

[edit] Significance

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.

[edit] Adaptations

[edit] External links

[edit] See also

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