51 pages • 1 hour read
José RizalEl Filibusterismo
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1891A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Background
Authorial Context: José Rizal
Understanding José Rizal’s background grants greater insight into the motives and psychology of the novel’s main characters, Simoun/Ibarra and Basilio. Furthermore, his history provides credence for the abuses by the clergy and government since he was a period writer and witnessed such abuses, even experiencing some firsthand.
The novel’s setting and characters are influenced by Rizal’s life. Rizal came from a relatively wealthy family with mestizo origins (being of Spanish and Indigenous heritage), much like Ibarra. His full name was José Protasio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda. He exhibited intellectual and artistic talents as a youth and attended the Ateneo Municipal in Manila, which appears in the novel. Rizal also studied at the University of Santo Tomás in Manila, which the novel’s students attend. Later, he went to Europe for university education and attended the Universidad Central de Madrid, the Université de Paris, and the Universität Heidelberg. Ibarra also studied in Europe, his time in Germany being reflected in allusions to German philosopher Friedrich Schiller (The Robbers, William Tell), as Rizal himself was an admirer of Schiller’s works. Rizal became a professional ophthalmologist, which mirrors Basilio’s medical trajectory; he was also a polymath. He wrote, painted, sculpted, was adept in many scientific fields, and spoke his native Tagalog, French, German, and Spanish. While in Europe, Rizal began contributing articles and poetry to various publications; he also worked on his novels.
Rizal’s first novel, Noli Me Tángere, was published in Berlin in 1887. Both Noli Me Tángere and El Filibusterismo were banned for years in the Philippines. When Rizal eventually returned to the Philippines in 1896, he was arrested and eventually executed later that year in December. Ibarra was forced into exile in Noli Me Tángere to escape death, and dies by suicide at the end of El Filibusterismo. In a way, Rizal predicted his own demise at the hands of the authorities just as his protagonist did. Rizal’s death occurred a few months after the Philippine Revolution began in August 1896. Ibarra was the leader of a failed revolution, and just as Father Florentino condemned Ibarra’s revolutionary means, so, too, did Rizal condemn violence, insisting that the Philippine people required education and a firm national identity before revolution.
Sociohistorical Context: Colonialism and Clerical Power
The Philippines were first colonized by the Spanish in 1565 by Miguel López de Legazpi, though they were first discovered on behalf of the Spanish by Ferdinand Magellan in 1521; Magellan died during battle while attempting to conquer the islands. The islands are named the Philippines in honor of King Philip II of Spain. Like many colonies, especially those under Spanish dominion, the Catholic church played a significant role in establishing a strict social hierarchy that reinforced subservience to the Spanish crown by framing colonialism as a divine directive. Spain lost much of its colonial empire in the early decades of the 19th century as a result of the Napoleonic wars. However, the Philippines remained under Spanish control with only minor interruptions from the British. The Spanish struggled to fully control all of the Philippines, most notably in the south where belief in Islam was strong. Furthermore, even in areas where Spanish control was strongest, authority was shared between government and Catholic officials. The coupling of state and church had been Spanish policy since the beginning of its colonial period. Nevertheless, in the Philippines, friars of various groups exercised feudal power over regions they controlled to the point of local government officials complaining to the Spanish crown about their behavior. The most notable of these complaints had to do with clerical greed, draconian punishments, and the enslavement of Indigenous populations. These abuses are illustrated, among others, in Rizal’s novels. Another clerical abuse featured in El Filibusterismo is the friars’ resistance against the Filipino population learning Spanish. A Spanish attorney in the late 18th century, Francisco Leandro de Viana, formally accused the clergy of refusing to teach Spanish as a means of keeping Indigenous populations ignorant and under their despotism.
