Summary
Newspapers in Manila are preoccupied with news out of Europe and barely cover the growing violence in their own country. After Juli’s suicide, Padre Camorra is quietly transferred to another town without any punishment. The Captain General decides to make an example of Basilio in order to send a message of strength and authority after the pasquinades. He uses the pretext of finding prohibited medical books in Basilio’s possession to incarcerate him. His secretary, referred to as the high official, timidly objects that Basilio is the most innocent out of all the students, but the Captain General ignores him. After years of remaining silent, the high official speaks out. He criticizes the colonial government’s exploitation of Filipinos: their actions stain the honor of Spain, the country he loves so dearly. The Captain General coldly fires the high official and sends him back to Spain.
Members of the student association are suspended from the university while others leave Manila or return home to avoid more trouble. Paulita cannot understand why Isagani turned himself in. She finds his political idealism foolish and instead agrees to marry Juanito. The fact that Juanito is a wealthy mestizo convinces her he will make a better match. Juanito’s father, Don Timoteo Pelaez, decides to throw the couple a lavish wedding and Simoun offers to help. The party will double as a send-off for the Captain General, whose three-year term is ending and who will therefore be returning to Spain.
Basilio spends two months in prison where he is subjected to frequent interrogations. Eventually, Simoun arranges his release. Both have changed immensely in this time. Since Maria Clara’s death, Simoun is less confident and adapts an even harder disposition. The once tender and put-together Basilio is now ragged, with a dark glitter in his eyes. With resolve, he tells Simoun he is finally ready to openly resist the Spanish. Simoun excitedly shares with Basilio his plan to plant a bomb at Paulita and Juanito’s party which will be full of top state and church officials. Basilio is nervous about the proposal but Simoun confidently states the only way to fight violence is with violence. They will finally be able to bring to justice those in power who have caused so much damage in the Philippines.
Simoun’s plan is to disguise the bomb as an ornate lamp and give it as a wedding gift to the couple. He will place the lamp in the middle of the festivities and, after it explodes, Tales and the tulisanes will attack the city. Basilio will help guide citizens to join the fight and they can arm themselves with the guns Simoun smuggled into the city. The citizens will have a choice: join the rebellion or be killed. Simoun views this violence and death as a necessary cleansing of the weak so that only the strong and bold will survive to build back a better country. Basilio is swept up in Simoun’s passionate rhetoric and his own desire for revenge.
The wedding takes place in Captain Tiago’s old home and no expense is spared to impress the guests. The Captain General is melancholy as he prepares for his imminent return to Spain. Despite leaving with a fortune, he worries about how he will be received back in Spain. Basilio walks the streets waiting for the explosion. He reflects that if he had not been imprisoned he might be married to Juli, quietly practicing medicine at this very moment.
Basilio vacillates between his anger at the friars and his natural desire to save innocent people. Seeing Simoun enter the party with the lamp, Basilio’s conscience wins out over his hatred and pain. Basilio runs into Isagani on the street and warns him about the bomb. Isagani was waiting, heartbroken, outside the party hoping to get a last glimpse of Paulita. Wanting to save Paulita from a horrible death, Isagani runs toward the party. Meanwhile, a note circulates among the guests “Mene, Tekel, Phares, Juan Crisotomo Ibarra.” People pass it around in confusion thinking it is a treasonous joke but Padre Salvi recognizes Ibarra’s handwriting and turns white. The guests become uneasy. Just before the bomb is about to go off, Isagani rushes in, seizes the lamp, and throws it into the river. Before anyone can catch a glimpse of him, Isagani jumps into the river with cries of "thief" following after him.
Ben Zayb immediately goes home to write about the incident. He changes the events to depict the Captain General and the friars in the best light. Not realizing the lamp was a bomb, he believes it was a thief that disturbed the party. The Captain General censors Ben Zayb’s story because he believes the incident will reflect poorly on the government. Robbers attack the country home where Padre Camorra is now staying; Ben Zayb goes to investigate, hoping he can write about that instead. The captured robbers relay a plan for tulisanes to sack wealthy convents and homes led by Tales and “a sunburnt Spaniard.” Ben Zayb realizes they are talking about Simoun but believes it to be a ridiculous accusation. However, when large quantities of gunpowder are discovered under Capitan Tiago’s house, the truth is finally revealed about Simoun’s plot against the Spanish.
Tales and his band of tulisanes attack town after town in the provinces, sowing terror. Unable by law to bear arms, Filipinos are helpless in the face of these attacks. Instead of hunting down those responsible, the Civil Guard merely rounds up whoever is nearby. A group of these prisoners are being led under the scorching hot May sun. Bound, they shuffle along and endure beatings and verbal abuse from the Civil Guard. Carolino, one of the guards, urges his companions to stop abusing the prisoners. Suddenly, bullets rain down on the group and wound several of the guards. Carolino pauses, feeling there is something familiar about one of the attackers. His superior orders Carolino to fire and Carolino shoots the man who falls with a cry. Approaching, Carolino realizes that the old man is his grandfather, Tandang Selo. Carolino is in fact Tales’ son, Tano, who was drafted into the army. Tangang Selo looks up at Carolino with unspeakable grief as he dies.
Padre Florentino is at his solitary home on the ocean. He receives a warning that the Civil Guard will be coming to arrest a Spaniard hidden at his house. His friend, Don Tiburcio, flees thinking Doña Victorina is after him. Padre Florentino realizes the note is referring to Simoun who showed up wounded at his house a few days earlier begging for refuge. Simoun is exhausted and only responds with a sad, ironic smile. He decides to take poison rather than be arrested. In the last hours of his life, Simoun unburdens himself to Padre Florentino; he hopes to understand why his goals failed. Simoun reveals he is in fact Ibarra and shares how he fled the Philippines for Cuba with a chest of his family’s money. In Cuba, Simoun gained further wealth and influence and used his money to befriend the Captain General. After helping buy the Captain General’s appointment in the Philippines, Simoun used his friendship to spread injustice, believing it was the only way to spark revolution.
Padre Florentine listens on with compassion. Padre Florentine tells Simoun that God has frustrated all of his plans because Simoun tried to liberate the Philippines by creating more crime and evil. Simoun never offered an alternative to the corrupt and greedy system he aimed to bring down; he never gave the people something to aspire to. Still, Simoun wonders how God could let so many innocent people suffer while saving criminals far worse than Simoun. Padre Florentine believes the people of the Philippines need to be worthy of liberty, to demonstrate the bravery to stand up to the Spanish. If not, upon gaining their freedom, they too will become tyrants. Padre Florentino earnestly hopes for the day when youth, with their energy and minds still unpolluted by colonial ideas, will lead the rest of the population toward independence. Lost in thought, Padre Florentino looks down and realizes Simoun has died. Gathering Simoun’s chest of jewels, the old man laboriously takes it to the water and throws it in the sea.
Analysis
The colonial government is corrupt and dysfunctional. In an effort to hide its weakness, officials dole out punishments randomly. They use cruelty as a show of force and authority. The Spanish high official becomes disgusted, feeling that it reflects badly on the Spanish and their country. He remarks on how far the Spanish have strayed from their ideals: a warning that greed has corrupted and blinded those in power. It is precisely the Captain General’s insatiable lust for money that makes him easy for Simoun to manipulate.
Ben Zayb represents the type of journalism, and other institutions, that flourish in a corrupt system. Ben Zayb has little regard for accuracy; rather, he is a sycophant who exaggerates officials’ brilliance and good qualities. Rizal comments that his style of journalism would never be allowed in Spain. The censorship and sycophancy in the press is yet another factor contributing to the ignorance and isolation of the colony.
Basilio is changed by Juli’s death and his time in prison. He joins Rizal’s list of characters who face one too many hardships and turn to violence. At first, his switch seems to confirm Simoun’s theory of how to best incite revolution in the Philippines. However, Basilio has reservations about the level of violence Simoun is going to inflict on Filipinos, and in the end his conscience wins out and he helps stop the attack.
Simoun’s note at the party is an allusion to the Bible. It refers to a passage when God pronounces judgment upon a king and his kingdom and decides to turn the kingdom over to another group He finds more worthy. The warning is delivered to the king by Daniel, the prophet. Simoun signs his note Juan Crisotomo Ibarra, likening himself to a prophet bringing down the wrath of God on the Spanish. Simoun wants to send the message that the Spanish are finally to be punished for their innumerable sins in the Philippines. However, the allusion also reveals Simoun’s confidence in the righteousness of his cause. He signs the note Ibarra because he wants the Spanish to know that they did not defeat him and that he came back to take revenge.
Simoun is a tragic character. Despite his dreams and ideals, he never lives up to his promise. Simoun’s attempts to start a revolution fail multiple times and the people he was leading lose faith after his broken promises. Ibarra started out his life as a wealthy, respected, and idealistic man. Yet after everything was taken away from him, he crafted for himself a new identity: the cold-hearted revolutionary who will do anything to bring down those who wronged him and his country.
Looking upon Simoun’s face, Padre Florentino only sees the immense grief Simoun carried around with them and the tragedy of a wasted life. In Simoun’s last hours, Padre Florentino provides solace and insight about where he went astray. Simoun became consumed by the system he tried to destroy, turning into a monster in the process. Instead of alleviating Filipinos’ suffering, he increased it. In this final conversation, Rizal offers a warning about the fundamental nature of power and how easily it can corrupt even the purest of ideals. Padre Florentino’s decision to throw away Simoun’s money is a repudiation of the greed and power that corrupted both Simoun and so many in the Philippines. He hopes that one day, youth can bring about true liberty—a call to action that potentially his nephew Isagani could answer.
