Commission on Higher Education

CORDOVA PUBLIC COLLEGE

Gabi, Cordova Cebu

MODULE 6
LIFE, WORKS AND WRITINGS OF DR. JOSE RIZAL

Name: KHENT HAROLD LARAYOS Course and Year: BSIT 2B Date: 11/5/2020
I. COURSE CONTENT: NOLI ME TANGERE AND EL FILIBUSTRISMO
II. OJECTIVES:
At the end of this module, you will be able to:
1. To develop correct and deeper understanding of the historical background behind Rizal’s novels
in order to have a strong and integral understanding of historical concepts.
2. Appraise important characters in the novel and what they represent.
3. Present Philippine situation through the examples mentioned in the Noli.
4. Value the role of the youth in the development future of the society.

III. SOURCES:
1. Almario, Virgilio. Si Rizal: Nobelista QC. UP Press, 2008
2. Daroy, Petronilo. Rizal contrary essays. Quezon City: Guro books, 1968
3. Anderson, Benedict, Why counting counts: a Study of forms of consciousness and problems of
Language in Noli Me Tanegere and El Filibusterismo, qc: Ateneo de Manila University Press,
2008

IV. LESSON:
Topics:
NOLI ME TANGERE PUBLISHED IN BERLIN (1887)

-The bleak winter of 1886 in Berlin was Rizal’s darkest winter because no money arrived from Calamba
and he was flat broke. The diamond ring which his sister, Saturnina, gave him was in the pawnshop.
It was memorable in the life of Rizal for two reasons

(1) it was a painful episode for he was hungry, sick and despondent in a strange city
(2) it brought him great joy after enduring so much sufferings, because his first novel, Noli
Me
Tangere came off the press in March, 1887
•Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin- inspired Dr. Rizal to prepare a novel that would
depict the miseries of his people under the lash of Spanish tyrants January 2, 1884- in a reunion
of Filipinos in the Paterno residence in Madrid, Rizal proposed the writings of a novel about the
Philippines by a group of Filipinos
•Toward the end of 1884, Rizal began writing the novel in Madrid and finished about
one-half of
it
•When Rizal went to Paris, in 1885, after completing his studies in the Central
University of
Madrid, he continued writing the novel, finishing one half of the second half
•Rizal finished the last fourth of the novel in Germany. He wrote the last few
Chapters of the Noli in Wilhelmsfeld in April-June, 1886
•In Berlin during the winter days of February, 1886, Rizal made the final revisions on the
Manuscript of the Noli
•Maximo Viola- Rizal’s friend from Bulacan, arrived in Berlin at the height of Rizal
Despondency and loaned him the needed funds to publish the novel; saviour of Noli
•After the Christmas season, Rizal put the finishing touches on his novel. To save
printing
Expenses, he deleted certain passages in his manuscript, including a whole chapter—“Elias and
Salome”
•February 21, 1887- the Noli was finally finished and ready for printing
•Berliner Buchdruckrei-Action-Gesselschaft- a printing shop which charged the lowest rate, that
is,300 pesos for 2,00 copies of the novel
•March 21, 1887- the Noli Me Tangere came off the press
•March 29, 1887- Rizal, in token of his appreciation and gratitude, gave Viola the galley
proofs
of the Nolicarefully rolled around the pen that he used in writing it and a complimentary copy,
 with the following inscription: “To my dear friend, Maximo Viola, the first to read and appreciate
my work—Jose Rizal”
•The title Noli Me Tangere is a Latin phrase which means “Touch Me Not”. It is
not
originally conceived by Rizal, for he admitted taking it from the Bible
•Rizal, writing to Felix Hidalgo in French on March 5, 1887, said: “Noli Me Tangere,
words
taken from the Gospel of St. Luke, signify “do not touch me” but Rizal made a mistake, it
should be the Gospel of St. John (Chapter 20 Verses 13 to 17)
•Rizal dedicated his Noli Me Tangere to the Philippines—“ToMy Fatherland”
•the cover of Noli Me Tangere was designed by Rizal. It is a ketch of
explicit symbols.
A woman’s head atop a Maria Clara bodice represents the nation and the women, victims
of the social cancer. One of the causes of the cancer is symbolized in the friar’s feet,
outsized in relation to the woman’s head. The other aggravating causes of oppression
and discrimination are shown in the guard’s helmet and the iron chains, the teacher’s whip and
the Alferez’s scourge. A slight cluster of bamboo stands at the backdrop; these are the people,
forever in the background of their own country’s history. There are a cross, a maze, flowers and
thorny plants, a flame; these are indicative of the religious policy, the misdirected ardour , the
people strangled as a result of these all •The novel
Noli Me Tangere contains 63 chapters and an epilogue •Dr. Antonio
Ma. Regidor- Filipino patriot and lawyer who had been exiled due to his
complicity in the Cavite Mutiny of 1872, read avidly the Noli and was very much
impressed by its author

CHARACTERS OF NOLI
•The Noli Me Tangere was a true story of the Philippine conditions during the last decades of
Spanish rule
•Maria Clara-was Leonor Rivera, although in real life she became unfaithful and married
an
Englishman
•Ibarra and Elias- represented Rizal himself
•Tasio-the philosopher was Rizal’s elder brother Paciano
•Padre Salvi-was identified by Rizalists as Padre Antonio Piernavieja, the hated
Augustinian friar
in Cavite who was killed by the patriots during the Revolution
•Capitan Tiago-was Captain Hilario Sunico of San Nicolas
•Doña Victorina- was Doña Agustina Medel
•Basilio and Crispin- were the Crisostomo brothers of Hagonoy
•Padre Damaso- typical of a domineering friar during the days of Rizal, who was
arrogant,
Immoral and anti-Filipino
STORM OVER THE NOLI
•Governor General Emilio Terrero (1885-1888)-requesting Rizal to come to Malacañang Palace
•Don Jose Travel de Andrade-a young Spanish lieutenant assigned by Governor General Terrero
to posed as bodyguard of Rizal
•Msgr. Pedro Payo (a Dominican)- sent a copy of Noli to Father Rector Gregorio Echavarria of the
University of Sto. Tomas for examination by a committee of the faculty
•The report of the faculty members of University of Santo Tomas stated that the Noli was “heretical,
impious, and scandalous in the religious order and anti-patriotic, subversive of public order, injurious to
the government of Spain and its function in the Philippine Islands in the political order”
•Permanent Commission of Censorship-a committee composed of priest and laymen
•Fr. Salvador Font- Augustinian cura of Tondo, head of the committee-found the novel to contain
subversive ideas against the Church and Spain, and recommended “that the importation,
reproduction, and circulation of this pernicious book in the islands be absolutely prohibit
•Fr. Jose Rodriguez- Augustinian priest, published a series of eight pamphlets under the general heading
Questions de Sumo Interest (Questions of Supreme Interest) to blast the Noli and other anti-Spanish
writings
•Vicente Barrantes- Spanish academician of Madrid, who formerly criticized the Noli in an
article published in La Espańa Modern (a newspaper of Madrid) in January, 1890
•What marred Rizal’s happy days in Calamba with Lt. Andrade were
(1) the death of his older sister ,Olimpia, and
(2) the groundless tales circulated by his enemies that he was “a German spy, an agent of
Bismarck, a Protestant, a Mason, a witch, a soul beyond salvation, etc.”
 •Rev. Vicente Garcia-a Filipino Catholic priest-scholar, a theologian of the Manila
Cathedral and a Tagalog translator of the famous Imitation of Christ by Thomas A. Kempis-writing
under the penname Justo Desiderio Magalang, wrote a defense of the Noli which was published in
Singapore as an appendix to a pamphlet dated July 18, 1888, he blasted the arguments of Fr. Rodriguez
•Rizal, himself defended his novel against Barrantes’ attack, in a letter written in Brussels,
Belgium in February 1880.

EL FILIBUSTERISMO PUBLISHED IN GHENT (1891)

-Rizal was busy revising and polishing the manuscript of El Filibusterismo so that it could be ready for the
press
-Rizal had begun writing it in October, 1887, while practicing medicine in Calamba, the following
year (1888), in London he made some changes in the plot and corrected some chapters already written.
He wrote more chapters in Paris and Madrid, and finished the manuscript in Biarritz on March 29, 1891.
It took him, therefore, three years to write his second novel
•July 5, 1891- Rizal left Brussels for Ghent, a famous university city in Belgium
•Rizal reasons for moving to Ghent were
(1) the cost of printing in Ghent was cheaper than in Brussels
(2) to escape from the enticing attraction of Petite Suzanne
•Rizal met two compatriots while in Ghent, Jose Alejandro (from Pampanga) and Edilberto
Evangelista(from Manila), both studying engineering in the world-famed University of Ghent
•F. Meyer-Van Loo Press (No. 66 Viaanderen Street)-a printing shop that give Rizal the lowest quotation
for the publication of his novel, who was willing to print his book on instalment basis
•August 6, 1891-the printing of his book had to be suspended because Rizal could no longer give the
necessary funds to the printer
•Valentin Ventura- the saviour of the Fili-When Ventura learned of Rizal’s predicament and immediately
sent him the necessary funds
•September 18, 1891- El Filibusterismo came off the press-Rizal immediately sent on this date two
printed copies to Hong Kong—one for Basa and other for Sixto Lopez
•Rizal gratefully donated the original manuscript and an autographed printed copy to Valentin Vent
•La Publicidad- a Barcelona newspaper, wherein it published attribute eulogizing the novel’s
original style which “is comparable only to the sublime Alexander Dumas” and may well be offeredas“a
model and a precious jewel in the now decadent literature of Spain”
•El Nuevo Regimen- the liberal Madrid newspaper that serialized the novel in its issues of October,
1891
• Rizal dedicated El Filibusterismo to Gom-Bur-Za (Don Mariano Gomez, 73 years old;
Don Jose Burgos, 35 years old; Jacinto Zamora, 37 years old)
•The original manuscript of El Filibusterismo in Rizal’s own handwriting in now preserved
in the Filipiana Division of the Bureau of Public Libraries, Manila. It consists of 270 pages of
long sheets of paper
•Two features in the manuscript do not appear in the printed book, namely:
the FOREWORD and the WARNING. These were not put into print to save printing cost
•the title page of El Filibusterismo contains an inscription written by Ferdinand Blumentritt
•El Filibusterismo is a sequel to the Noli. It has little humour, less idealism and less romance
than the Noli Me Tangere. It is more revolutionary, more tragic than the first novel
•the characters in El Filibusterismo were drawn by Rizal from real life.
Padre Florentino was Father Leoncio Lopez, Rizal’s friend and priest of Calamba;
Isagani, the poet was Vicente Ilustre, Batangueñofriend of Rizal in Madrid and
Paulita Gomez, the girl who loved Isagani but married Juanito Pelaez, was Leonor Rivera
•The original intention of Rizal was to make the Fili longer than the Noli
•the friends of Rizal and our Rizalistas today differ in opinion as to which is the superior novel—the Noli
or el Fili. Rizal himself considered the Noli as superior to the Fili as a novel, thereby agreeing with M.H.
del Pilar who had the same opinion
•September 22, 1891-four days after the Fili came off the press, Rizal wrote to Blumentritt: “I am
thinking of writing a third novel, a novel in the modern sense of the word, but this time politics will not
find much space in it, but ethics will play the principal role.”
•October 18, 1891- Rizal boarded the steamer Melbourne in Marseilles bound for Hong Kong-during the
voyage, Rizal began writing the third novel in Tagalog, which he intended for Tagalog readers
•The unfinished novel has no title. It consists of 44 pages (33cm x 21 cm) in Rizal’s handwriting, still in
manuscript form, it is preserved in the National Library, Manila-The story of this unfinished novel begins
with the solemn burial of Prince Tagulima. The hero of the novel was Kaman Dagan, a descendant of
Lakan -Dula, last king of Tondo-It is said that Rizal was fortunate not to have finished this novel, because
it would have caused greater scandal and more Spanish vengeance on him
• other unfinished novel of Rizal in Tagalog written in a light sarcastic style and is incomplete for only
two chapters are finished. The manuscript consists of 20 pages, 34.2cm x 22cm24.
•Dapitan-another novel which Rizal started to write but it is unfinished, written in ironic Spanish. He
wrote it during his exile in Dapitan to depict the town life and customs. The manuscript consists of 8
pages,23cm x 16cm
•A novel in Spanish about the life in Fili, a town in Laguna, is also unfinished. The manuscript
consists of 147 pages, 8” x 6.5”, without title
•Another unfinished novel of Rizal, also without title is about Cristobal, a youthful Filipino student who
has returned from Europe. The manuscript consist of 34 pages, 8 ½” x 6 ¼”
•The beginnings of another novel are contained in two notebooks—the first notebook contains 31
written pages, 35.5 cm x 22 cm and second 12 written pages, 22cm x 17cm. this unfinished novel is
written in Spanish and style is ironic.

ASSESSMENT:

Make a Comparison between NOLI ME TANGERE AND EL FILIBUSTRISMO. 50 pts.

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.

One of the great books written by our national hero, Dr. Jose P. Rizal, is Noli Me
Tangere. It is a Latin word meaning "Touch Me Not". This book is a societal novel. He started
writing it in Madrid, Spain on 1884, continued in Paris, France and was finished in Berlin,
Germany on February 1887. Noli Me Tangere was dedicated to his Inang Bayan, the Philippines.
The history stated in the book "Uncle Tom's Cabin" of Hariet Beecher Stowe, that tells the
suffering of Negro slaves under the cruelty of the Americans, gave our hero the idea. in writing
this book. He saw the similarity of this to the cruelty experienced by the Filipinos under the
Spanish rule. This was published at Imprenta Lette in Berlin, Germany on March 1887 by the
help of Dr. Maximo Viola. As a thanks, Dr. Rizal gave the original manuscript and the PLUMA he
used in writing the novel to Dr. Viola.

Another important writing of our hero is the El Filibusterismo. It comes from the word
"filibustero" which means a person who is against the Roman Catholic. This book is a political
novel. He started writing it on 1890 in London, England and was finished in Brussels, Belgium on
1891. This was dedicated to the "Three Martyrs", GomBurZa (Fr. Mariano Gomez, Fr. Jose
Burgos, Fr. Jacinto Zamora). Dr. Rizal believed that the three martyrs was only a victim of
cruelty and loss of justice. They was blamed, with a Sgt. Lamadrid, to be the leader of Cavite
Mutiny on January 1872 and sentenced by garote on February that year. El Filibusterismo was
first published in a publication company in Ghent, Belgium. The publication of the book were
stopped because of financial problem. By the help of Dr. Valentin Ventura, the publication
resumed and was finished on September 1891. As a favor, Dr. Rizal gave the original manuscript
of the novel with an autographed copy of the book.

Noli me tangere

* Means "Touch me not "

*Refers to john 20:17 in the bible as
Mary Magdalene tried to touch the newly risen jesus,
He said "Touch me not;for i am not yet ascended to my Father"

El filibusterismo

*Means "The Filibuster"

*also know by its English alternate
title "The Reign of Greed"
PREPARED BY:

GINA ARAÑAS – CASTRO, LPT and [Link]. D

INSTRUCTOR

DATE: November 03, 2020