1. The title Noli Me Tangere is a
Latin phrase which means
“Touch Me Not.”
2. Rizal dedicated his Noli Me Tangere to the Philippines
– “To My Fatherland.” His dedication run as follows:
Recorded in the history of human sufferings is a
cancer so malignant a character that the least touch
irritates it and awakens in it the sharpest pains. Thus,
how many times, when in the midst of modern
civilizations I have wished to call thee before me, now
to accompany me in memories, now to compare thee
with other countries, hath thy dear image presented
itself showing a social cancer like to that other!
3. Desiring thy welfare which is our own, and
seeking the best treatment, I will do with thee what
the ancients did with their sick, exposing them on the
steps of the temple so that every one who came to
invoke the Divinity might offer them a remedy.
And to this end, I will strive to reproduce thy
condition faithfully, without discriminations; I will
raise a part of the veil that covers the evil, sacrificing to
truth everything, even vanity itself, since, as thy son I
am conscious that I also suffer from thy defects and
weaknesses.
4. The novel Noli Me Tangere
contains 63 chapters and an
epilogue.
5. Major Characters Other characters
Juan Crisostomo Padre Hernando de la
María Clara Sibyla
Capitán Tiago Padre Bernardo Salví
Padre Dámaso El Alférez or Alperes
Elías Doña Consolacíon
Filosofo Tacio Don Tiburcio de
Doña Victorina Espadaña –
Sisa, Crispín, and Teniente Guevara
Basilio Alfonso Linares
6. Non-recurring
characters
Tía Isabel Don Pedro
Governor General Eibarramendia
Don Filipo Lino Don Saturnino Ibarra
Padre Manuel Salomé
Martín Sinang
Don Rafael Ibarra Iday,
Neneng and Victoria
Dona Pía Alba
Capitán Basilio
7. Pedro
Tandáng Pablo
El hombre amarillo
Lucas
Bruno and Tarsilo
Ñor Juan
Capitana Tika (Rustica)
Albino
Capitana María Elena
Hermano Pedro, Hermana Rufa, Hermana Sipa,
Hermana Juana
Sacristán Mayor
Capitán Tinong and Capitán Valentín
8. The Noli Me Tangere, unlike many works of
fictional literarture, was a true story of
Philippine conditions during the last
dacades of Spanish rule. The places, the
characters, and the situations really existed.
“The facts I narrate there,” said Rizal, “are all
true and have happened; I can prove them.”
