Noli Me Tangere - PLOT

Having completed his studies in Europe, young Juan Crisostomo Magsalin Ibarra (Spanish Juan
Crisstomo Ibarra y Magsalin) returns to the Philippines after a seven-year absence. In his honor,
Don Santiago de los Santos, also known as "Captain Tiago", a family friend, throws a reunion party,
attended by friars and other prominent figures. One of the guests, a Franciscan friar named Dmaso
Vardolagas, the former curate of San Diego, belittled and slandered Ibarra.
The next day, Ibarra visits his betrothed Mara Clara, the beautiful daughter of Captain Tiago and
affluent resident of Binondo. Their long-standing love was clearly manifested in this meeting, and
Mara Clara cannot help but reread the letters her sweetheart had written her before he went to
Europe. Before Ibarra left for San Diego in time for the town fiesta, Lieutenant Guevara, a Civil
Guard, reveals to him the incidents preceding the death of his father, Don Rafael Ibarra, a rich
hacendero of the town.
According to Guevara, Rafael was unjustly accused of being a heretic, in addition to being a subversive
an allegation brought forth by Dmaso because of Don Rafael's non-participation in the
Sacraments, such as Confession and Mass due to his discoveries of the abuses commited by the friars
themselves. Fr. Dmaso's animosity towards Ibarra's father is aggravated by another incident when
Don Rafael helped out in a fight between a tax collector and a child, with the former's death being
blamed on him, although it was not deliberate. Suddenly, all those who thought ill of him surfaced
with additional complaints. He was imprisoned, and just when the matter was almost settled, he died
of an illness in jail. His remains, formerly interred at the local cemetery, were ordered by Dmaso to
be exhumed and transferred to the Chinese cemetery, which Damaso believes is a burial place for
heathens or people who do not acknowledge God few years past. However the graveyard caretakers,
who sympathize Rafael, instead threw the remains in the lake to fool Dmaso.
Revenge was not in Ibarra's plans, instead he carried through his father's plan of putting up a school,
since he believed education would pave the way to his country's progress (all throughout the novel,
the author refers to both Spain and the Philippines as two different countries but part of the same
nation or family, with Spain seen as the mother and the Philippines as the daughter). During the
inauguration of the school, Ibarra would have been killed in a sabotage had Elas a mysterious man
who had warned Ibarra earlier of a plot to assassinate him not warned him of the plot (which
involved the derrick supporting the cornerstone to be laid on the foundation collapsing on him).
Instead the hired assassin met an unfortunate incident and died.
After the inauguration, Ibarra hosted a luncheon wherein Dmaso attended despite not being invited.
The friar again insulted Ibarra, who ignored the priest's insolence. But when Dmaso slandered the
memory of his dead father, Ibarra was no longer able to restrain himself. He picks up a knife and
lunged at Dmaso, holding the knife to his neck. After Ibarra tells everyone the truth about the friars
evil acts, he berates Dmaso and prepares to stab him to death only for Maria Clara to to stop him out
of mercy. Ibarra aborts his plan to kill Dmaso, and is excommunicated for assaulting a cleric after
news of the incident reaches the Church. Damaso takes this opportunity to persuade the alreadyhesitant Tiago to forbid his daughter from marrying Ibarra. The friar instead wanted Mara Clara to
marry Alfonso Linares de Espadaa, a Peninsular who just arrived from Spain.
With the help of the Governor-General, Ibarra's excommunication was lifted and the Archbishop of
Manila decided to receive him into the Church once again. A revolt happened soon after, and both

Spanish colonial officials and friars implicated Ibarra as its mastermind. Thus, he was arrested and
detained, later disdained by those who had become his friends.
Meanwhile, in Capitn Tiago's residence, a party was being held to announce the upcoming wedding
of Mara Clara and Linares. Ibarra, with the help of Elas and the Governor-General, took this
opportunity to escape from prison. Before leaving, Ibarra spoke to Mara Clara and accused her of
betraying him, thinking she gave the letter he wrote her to the jury. Mara Clara explained that she
would never conspire against him, but that she was forced to surrender Ibarra's letter to Father Salv,
in exchange for the letters written by her mother, Doa Pia, even before she, Mara Clara, was born.
The letter states that Damaso is Maria Clara's real father.
Mara Clara, thinking Ibarra had been killed in the shooting incident, was greatly overcome with grief.
Robbed of hope and severely disillusioned, she asked Dmaso to confine her to a nunnery. Dmaso
reluctantly agreed when she threatened to take her own life, demanding, The nunnery or death!
Unbeknownst to her, Ibarra was still alive and able to escape, as it was Elas who had taken the shots.
It was Christmas Eve when Elas woke up, fatally wounded, in the forest where he had instructed
Ibarra to meet him. Instead, Elas found the altar boy Basilio cradling his already-dead mother, Sisa.
The woman had lost her mind after learning that Basilio and her other son, Crispn, were chased out
of the convento by the sacristan mayor on suspicions of stealing two gold pieces.
Elas, convinced he would die soon, instructs Basilio to build a funeral pyre and cremate his and Sisa's
corpses. He tells Basilio that, if nobody reaches the place, he was to return later and dig as he would
find gold. Elas then tells the boy to take the gold and use it to get an education. In his dying breath,
he instructed Basilio to continue dreaming about freedom for his motherland with the words:
I shall die without seeing the dawn break upon my homeland. You, who shall see it,
salute it! Do not forget those who have fallen during the night.
Elas died thereafter.
In the epilogue, it was explained that Tiago became addicted to opium and was seen to frequent the
public opium den in Binondo. Mara Clara became a nun and Salv, who had lusted after her from the
beginning of the novel, regularly, used her to sate his carnal desires. One stormy evening, a beautiful
yet insane woman was seen on the roof of the nunnery, crying and cursing the heavens for the fate it
had handed her. While the woman was never identified by name, the novel insinuates that it was
Mara Clara.