Lesson 4: El Filibusterismo – The Sequel and Revenge

El Filibusterismo (The Reign of Greed) was Rizal's second novel, published in 1891. He worked on it while exiled in Dapitan and finished it earlier through friends abroad. The word "filibuster" means revolt, so the title suggests uprising. Rizal originally planned it as a continuation of Noli, a decade later. In mood and tone, El Filibusterismo is darker and more cynical than Noli. Rizal was frustrated that Noli did not spark immediate change, so El Fili explores what might happen if some Filipinos take a more desperate, violent path.

The novel is dedicated to three martyr priests (Gomburza), indicating Rizal's sympathy with Filipino clergy who were punished for reformist ideas. El Fili shows Rizal's shift in thinking: he still doesn't fully join a revolution, but he understands the growing anger.

In El Fili, Crisóstomo Ibarra returns under the alias Simoun, a wealthy jeweler. He secretly plots revenge on the corrupt Spanish regime. Key characters include Basilio (the studious boy from Noli, now grown and studying medicine) and Isagani (a passionate student). Simoun befriends these Filipinos while planning to incite an uprising at a grand party he intends to bomb.

Major events: Simoun funds discontent by stirring resentment at the University of Santo Tomas (denying degrees for political reasons) and organizing smugglers with Don Custodio, a corrupt official. During a luxurious banquet, Simoun reveals bombs hidden in lamps, but the plan fails when one lamp is extinguished prematurely. The bomb kills Don Custodio instead of Spanish officials, foiling Simoun's revolution. In the end, Simoun realizes the plan led to more tragedy and confesses himself to authorities.

Through these events, El Fili portrays the revolution as matured anger. Simoun's failure suggests that violence without a unified plan is futile.