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6. Basilio
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in El Filibusterismo, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Colonialism and Identity
Violence vs. Nonviolence
Education and Freedom
Hypocrisy and Colonial Oppression
Summary
Analysis
The sound of footsteps startles Basilio out of his recollections. Seeing a figure approach, he is surprised to recognize Simoun. Even more surprising is that Basilio recognizes Simoun not just as the powerful jeweler he knows, but also as the stranger who helped him bury his mother. Afraid that Simoun will notice him, Basilio walks up to him. Simoun, who is armed, realizes that Basilio recognizes him. He says he should kill Basilio for his own safety but won’t, as he trusts Basilio. Simoun notes that Basilio, too, has his reasons to take revenge on Filipino society, and he suggests that they work together.
Seeing him in the same place, Basilio finally realizes that Simoun is in fact Ibarra, many years later and much changed by suffering. Basilio is afraid of Simoun but decides that it is safer to reveal himself than be found out; the latter option would perhaps lead Simoun to think he was spying on him. Simoun also recognizes Basilio, implying he has known who he is all along. Because they are bound together by their painful past, Simoun chooses to trust Basilio and invites him to join him.
Themes
Simoun explains that he has returned to the Philippines to help bring about corrupt colonial society’s demise by exacerbating its oppression so that the people will rise up. To that end, he has used his influence with the captain-general to worsen the situation, and he scorns Basilio and the students’ attempts to free themselves through self-improvement, especially their plan for a Spanish-language academy. Simoun admires their passion but sees these efforts as misguided—the Filipino people shouldn’t seek equality as Spanish citizens, he argues. Instead, they should work toward their own cultural and political independence.
Simoun’s elaborate plot involves heightening the political contradictions of the Philippines and increasing the tension between the colonial elite and their Indigenous subjects, preparing the country for a maximally violent and destructive uprising. Simoun sees this as the only way to achieve the kind of dramatic break with Spanish rule that they need. As far as he’s concerned, the students’ insufficiently radical efforts will always be coopted by the Spanish, and the Spanish will ultimately betray them.
Themes
Basilio politely declines to join Simoun’s cause, replying that he is not a political person and seeks only to better himself and others through the practice of medicine. Simoun is unsatisfied with this answer, and he points out that the human suffering that Basilio hopes to treat as a doctor has social causes too. Basilio waxes poetic about science, but Simoun points out that science will not free the people unless their tyrants are overthrown. Simoun then asks Basilio if he wants justice for his mother, offering his support for Basilio’s revenge. Basilio again refuses, failing to see what revenge will do for him. Simoun chides him for his submissiveness and tells him to seek him out if he ever changes his mind. Basilio leaves. Alone, Simoun muses to himself about his revenge.
Basilio is uncomfortable with Simoun’s methods, but he is also wary of his goals. Basilio sees politics as beyond the scope of his interests and abilities, as he hopes to concentrate on helping people by becoming a doctor. As Simoun suggests, however, there is no profession or discipline unaffected by politics, especially the politics of such a deeply unjust society. Even as a doctor, Basilio’s life will still be shaped by the cruel and arbitrary structure of Filipino society. Rizal seems to suggest that Simoun’s disturbing arguments contain an element of truth to them. If Simoun is unhealthily obsessed with revenge, perhaps Basilio is too committed to forgiving and forgetting for his own good.
Themes
