El Filibusterismo Essay Questions

Is Simoun a sympathetic character? Why or why not?

Simoun is a tragic figure who loses everything and ultimately fails to achieve his promise. He lets his desire for revenge poison him and it twists his ambition to bring liberation to the Philippines. In depicting Ibarra’s transformation into Simoun, Rizal explores a reality of the human condition: how high ideals can justify horrible acts of violence.

In his discussion with Padre Fernandez, Isagani states, “a people tyrannized over is forced to be hypocritical; a people denied the truth must resort to lies; and he who makes himself a tyrant breeds slaves.” Discuss the quote’s significance within the context of the novel.

Isagani argues that people are products of their environment. The failures that Padre Fernandez identifies in Filipinos are the direct result of the oppressive colonial system they are forced to live in. The Spanish limit access to education and demand blind subjugation; in return, Filipinos have internalized passivity and use whatever means necessary to deceive and please their Spanish tyrants as a means of survival.

In El Filibusterismo, what is the role of education in enforcing or disrupting the system of power?

The Catholic Church uses education as a tool to indoctrinate Filipinos. Students’ desire to learn and improve themselves is crushed in a degrading system and they become compliant or jaded. The Spanish claim that only some are worthy of an education and jealously guard knowledge. The students seek to disrupt their control and use education as a force of social change. They strive to bring in new ideas and foster genuine learning. However, their focus on Spanish instruction is also an assimilation to, and acceptance of, Spanish as the language of power in the Philippines.

Based on Rizal’s depictions of Spanish friars in the novel, what can we conclude about his views on the friars and the institution of the Catholic church?

Padres Camorra, Salví, Sibyla, and Irene all have great access to power and influence. However, instead of leading by example, or offering genuine religious guidance, they use their positions to further their own interests. This is often at the expense of the Filipinos they are tasked with protecting. In Rizal’s view, the Spanish friars embody the greed, arrogance, and corruption that plague the Philippines.

How do different classes in Filipino society conclude that there is a need for change?

Isagani, Simoun, and Padre Florentino all come from privilege and have had access to a formal education. Their political views are based on the ideals of patriotism and liberty. On the other hand, Tales represents the majority of Filipinos: a farmer without access to a formal education. He reaches revolutionary ideas through his lived experience rather than theory. His attempts, and failure, to legally defy the friar's theft of his land fills Tales with a righteous indignation and a strong desire to bring down those who wronged him. However, without a broader movement to join, Tales’ rage spills out into violence against Filipinos as well as the Spanish.