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.
Chapters 21-26Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 21 Summary: “Typical Manilans”
A French operetta troupe is in Manila. The friars and Don Custodio were against it, but the Captain-General supported the troupe, so they’re allowed to perform Les cloches de Corneville. The build-up to the first show is immense. An eccentric Spanish man known as Boiled Shrimp walks around and overhears Simoun’s plan—in which “The signal is a single gunshot” (187). The narrator then focuses on Tadeo and a first-year student observing the arrival of various patrons. Eventually, Makaraig and some others arrive and offer Tadeo and the other student tickets to the show because Basilio was unable to make it. Tadeo goes, but the other student doesn’t.
Chapter 22 Summary: “The Performance”
The audience for Les cloches de Corneville awaits the raising of the curtain. Juanito Peláez is at the show with Paulita, which makes Isagani upset (as Paulita is his love). Juanito ingratiates himself with Doña Victorina by making it appear he understands everything in the operetta (it’s in French, which he doesn’t speak). After the first act is over, Makaraig speaks with Don Custodio. He returns to his group, crestfallen. The Castilian Academy has been approved but with a major caveat: It won’t be a part of the university, and the students are to collect money for its establishment. Makaraig’s group leaves the theatre during the break, a scandalous thing to do.
Chapter 23 Summary: “A Corpse”
Simoun didn’t go to the theatre—rather, he went to Basilio to enlist him in his revolt. He gives Basilio an ultimatum—to join him or perish. He explains that Basilio must rescue María Clara from the convent once his planned shooting starts; Simoun, Ibarra, has lived only for her since they parted. Basilio informs him that María Clara recently died that afternoon. Simoun leaves the house in anguish.
Chapter 24 Summary: “Dreams”
It’s the evening after the operetta, and Isagani waits for Paulita to arrive. He’s melancholic because he assumes Paulita’s lost interest in him. However, when she arrives, he finds she’s still interested and even offended that he didn’t seek her out at the operetta. Doña Victorina and Paulita’s friend arrive, and Victorina asks Isagani about Juanito. Isagani and Paulita get a chance to speak alone, and he waxes poetry about her beauty, politics, his love for her, and a bright future for the Philippines. Paulita wonders what will happen if the future he envisions doesn’t come about. He hopes she’ll be able to say, “My love died fighting for the rights of his country” (220). Doña Victorina calls out, and the group gives Isagani a ride.
Chapter 25 Summary: “Laughter and Weeping”
The students meet at the Pansitería Macanista de Buen Gusto, a Chinese noodle shop. Makaraig leads the group, Isagani is present, Juanito is on his way, and Basilio is absent. The students mock the approval of the Castilian Academy, Don Custodio, and the friars. Pecson reflects on how much their lives are involved with the friars, from birth until death. Someone notices a boy who works for Father Sibyla spying on them. They all look out the window and notice a man getting into Simoun’s coach. Since the evening of the operetta, Simoun has been reported as ill and refuses to see anyone.
Chapter 26 Summary: “Broadsides”
Basilio finds the university in a somber mood the next morning. He wants to find out about his medical license and get money he’s owed from Makaraig. However, he discovers that someone posted broadsides on the university gates. The leadership of the Student Union, of which he is a member, are under suspicion. Basilio tries to gather as much information as he can. A friendly professor tells him about the broadsides and cautions him to be careful, Juanito is scared and doesn’t share much, Isagani is defiant and attempting to rally the students not to fear, and Makaraig is found at home. The police are at Makaraig’s home, and Makaraig is escorted by a corporal. The corporal learns who Basilio is and arrests him too.
Chapters 21-26 Analysis
In Chapters 21-22, the main focus is the French operetta Les cloches de Corneville (“The Bells of Corneville”), and how various characters and classes in Manila react to it. The operetta is a real work written by Robert Planquette; its first performance was in Paris in 1877 and proved popular. The play both captures a Manilan audience’s reaction to a French operetta and pays homage thereto, as its plot is similar to El Filibusterismo. Similarly, Rizal pays homage to The Count of Monte Cristo in Chapter 22, when an audience member makes an allusion to Simoun. Not only is this an instance of irony (as the two novels’ protagonists both pursue their old loves and revenge), but the reference frames European and Filipino citizens as wanting the same justice. The comparison advocates for greater autonomy for the Philippines.
Rizal doesn’t solely target the corrupt clergy and Spanish government officials—he also targets the apathetic of the Philippine populace, who are just as guilty in the former’s suppression of Indigenous Filipinos. The greatest indictment against Indigenous Filipinos is illustrated through Juanito Peláez’s behavior at the theatre. Juanito feigns being able to understand French, when he only knows a few words; he mistakes the meanings of servantes and domestiques, especially the latter, which he thinks means something along the lines of cultured or educated, rather than the word for a domestic servant. The Manilan audience is framed as critical while lacking knowledge of French culture (which was considered commonplace at the time, due to the popularity of plays such as Les cloches de Corneville). This behavior weakens the validity of their views of the Spanish and their fellow countrymen. In other words, their views regarding the marginalized of Filipino society likely lack insight and nuance.
Chapter 23 reveals the death of María Clara. Simoun seeks to free María Clara from her convent—as expected of the optimistic Ibarra from Noli Me Tángere—but is too late. María Clara’s death illustrates the price of revenge, as Simoun prioritized his forming a new identity and inciting the Filipino populace (which, while coming from a righteous place, was a convoluted way to pursue societal reform) over her freedom.
Chapter 24 offers a chance for Isagani, the most patriotic of the characters, to voice a more pragmatic need for reform, even autonomy, if the Spanish figures in power refuse to grant the Filipino populace the justice they deserve. His ideas contrast with Simoun’s violence, and thus, better represent Rizal’s own feelings on the matter. However, Isagani’s idealism is confronted by reality; even his love Paulita, who comes off as less educated than him, recognizes the elusiveness of his dreams. Thus, his declaration that the Philippines will find equal footing with Spain, that the clergy’s power will be relegated solely to religion, and that justice will reign in the Philippines regardless of race or status is both idealistic and cognizant of the Philippines’s failures due to various abuses. This sentiment is highlighted in Chapter 25, when the students’ simple request for a Castilian Academy is effectually defeated, and they realize how difficult it is to enact change even on a local level.
While Chapter 25 comprises the students’ defeat, Chapter 26 highlights further repercussions when Filipino citizens attempt to change the status quo. At times, the students and other citizens fear execution; the allusion to written criticism and execution is ironic considering Rizal’s own history. None of Rizal’s characters are executed for the broadsides, but he himself would be executed by firing squad for his writing. As per the novel’s social criticism, most of the students are able to afford bail because they have affluent families and friends who can bribe the officials into releasing them. However, Basilio lacks such influence and remains in prison. This is an injustice due to Basilio having nothing to do with the broadsides and him representing the poor who suffer more than the rich because they lack resources. Thus, everything Simoun predicted would happen to Basilio happens, which is similar to what happened to a bright-eyed, hopeful Crisóstomo Ibarra 13 years ago.
