El Filibusterismo Themes

The struggle for independence that the students and revolutionaries fight in El Filibusterismo is not just a struggle for political freedom—it is also a struggle to define themselves and their nation. Despite their different tactics and goals, characters like Isagani, Father Florentino, and Simoun all show how colonialism creates a shared sense of national and cultural identity even as it tries to suppress it. The precolonial Philippines was a diverse mosaic of different…

A central tension for the characters in El Filibusterismo is whether to advocate for their goals with violent or nonviolent means and how to respond to the different kinds of violence wielded by individuals and the state. El Filibusterismo finds Simoun, the protagonist of Rizal’s previous novel, developing an elaborate plot for violent revolution and revenge against Filipino society and the state. This is both retribution for and a response to the failure of…

El Filibusterismo contains a cast of despicable characters responsible for awful things, along with a few rare noble individuals. As well as greed, cruelty, and ignorance, one characteristic that defines the evil nature of both the worst offenders and the colonial system writ large is hypocrisy. Rizal skewers the hypocrisy of the colonial elite throughout his novel, showing the lengths to which they will go to avoid facing the true implications of their unjust way…