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Juan Crisóstomo Ibarra y Magsalin (Ibarra)
A woman well-regarded in San Diego for her high social station. Having grown up together as childhood friends, María Clara and Ibarra are engaged to be married, though Father Dámaso—her godfather—is displeased with this arrangement and does what he can to interfere. When Ibarra is excommunicated after almost killing Dámaso at a dinner party, arrangements are made for María Clara to marry a young Spanish man named Linares. She doesn’t speak up against this idea because she doesn’t want to cross her father, Captain Tiago, a spineless socialite who disavows Ibarra to stay in the good graces of friars like Father Dámaso. Later, María Clara discovers that Captain Tiago isn’t her real father—rather, Father Dámaso impregnated her mother, who died during childbirth. When Ibarra is put on trial after being framed as a subversive by Father Salví, María Clara is blackmailed into providing the court with letters Ibarra has sent her—letters his prosecutors unfairly use as evidence of malfeasance. She does so in order to keep secret the fact that Dámaso is her biological father, since she doesn’t want to disgrace her mother’s name or compromise Captain Tiago’s social standing. Still, she feels intense remorse at having sold Ibarra out. When the newspapers eventually falsely report his death, she calls off her marriage with Linares, instead deciding to enter a convent because she can’t stand to exist in a world that doesn’t contain Ibarra.
María Clara Quotes in Noli Me Tangere
The Noli Me Tangere quotes below are all either spoken by María Clara or refer to María Clara. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 42
Quotes
The servants all had to call them by their new titles and, as a result as well, the fringes, the layers of rice powder, the ribbons, and the lace all increased in quantity. She looked with increasing disfavor than ever before on her poor, less fortunate countrywomen, whose husbands were of a different category from her own. Every day she felt more dignified and elevated and, following this path at the end of a year she began to think of herself of divine origin.
Nevertheless, these sublime thoughts did not keep her from getting older and more ridiculous every day. Every time Captain Tiago ran into her and remembered that he had courted her in vain, he would right away send a peso to the church for a mass of thanksgiving. Despite this, Captain Tiago had great respect for her husband and his title “Specialist in All Types of Diseases” and he would listen attentively to the few sentences his stuttering permitted him to utter successfully. For this reason, and because he didn’t visit absolutely everyone like other doctors did, Captain Tiago chose him to attend his daughter.
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Explanation and Analysis:
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María Clara Quotes in Noli Me Tangere
The Noli Me Tangere quotes below are all either spoken by María Clara or refer to María Clara. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 42
Quotes
The servants all had to call them by their new titles and, as a result as well, the fringes, the layers of rice powder, the ribbons, and the lace all increased in quantity. She looked with increasing disfavor than ever before on her poor, less fortunate countrywomen, whose husbands were of a different category from her own. Every day she felt more dignified and elevated and, following this path at the end of a year she began to think of herself of divine origin.
Nevertheless, these sublime thoughts did not keep her from getting older and more ridiculous every day. Every time Captain Tiago ran into her and remembered that he had courted her in vain, he would right away send a peso to the church for a mass of thanksgiving. Despite this, Captain Tiago had great respect for her husband and his title “Specialist in All Types of Diseases” and he would listen attentively to the few sentences his stuttering permitted him to utter successfully. For this reason, and because he didn’t visit absolutely everyone like other doctors did, Captain Tiago chose him to attend his daughter.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
