# El Filibusterismo — Character guide

> Key figures in El Filibusterismo by José Rizal.

- [Simoun](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/el_filibusterismo_se/characters/simoun.md): Simoun moves easily among friars, officials, and journalists, yet goes motionless and thoughtful when the old story of a hunted fugitive is retold on the river. He is wealth, influence, and buried grievance in one polish
- [Basilio](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/el_filibusterismo_se/characters/basilio.md): Basilio studies medicine and keeps his head down, but a seized book and a rumor of filibusterismo are enough to put him at the mercy of men who admit he is the most innocent of all. The General's logic — sacrifice one fo
- [Isagani](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/el_filibusterismo_se/characters/isagani.md): Isagani loves Paulita Gomez with the whole ardor of an idealist, and the theater night turns that ardor into jealousy, humiliation, and a wish to see the whole building fall. While his friends plan and congratulate thems
- [Ben Zayb](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/el_filibusterismo_se/characters/ben_zayb.md): Ben Zayb trades in cheap funerals and filibuster jokes, and he is the first to notice when Simoun falls silent on the water — then the first to misjudge why. He treats the colony as material for copy, and his cheerful er
- [Plácido Penitente](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/el_filibusterismo_se/characters/placido_penitente.md): Plácido endures the classroom, the contributions, and the small daily degradations of a colonial student's life, while his mother begs him to be humble and silent like the others who rose by kissing hands. He has already
- [Cabesang Tales](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/el_filibusterismo_se/characters/cabesang_tales.md): Tales is the sort of man who would rather pay than litigate, telling himself that to fight the friars is to smash a clay pot against an iron one. He lost his wife and eldest daughter to the clearing of that land, and now
- [Don Custodio](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/el_filibusterismo_se/characters/don_custodio.md): Manila's endlessly titled 'Good Authority,' a liberal-minded official who wears his principles lightly and his self-importance heavily.
- [Julî](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/el_filibusterismo_se/characters/juli.md): A country girl whose love for Basilio costs her peace, caught between a menacing friar's attentions and her family's uncomprehending scorn.
- [Juanito Pelaez](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/el_filibusterismo_se/characters/juanito_pelaez.md): The professor's pet and everyone's clown, a rich mestizo's son who laughs his way through other people's ruin.
- [Padre Irene](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/el_filibusterismo_se/characters/padre_irene.md): A friar who moves between sacristy and salon, smiling, advising, and quietly arranging outcomes to suit the order he serves.
- [Padre Camorra](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/el_filibusterismo_se/characters/padre_camorra.md): A jolly Franciscan curate whose guitar, jokes, and 'liberal' manners conceal an appetite that leaves wreckage behind him.
- [Padre Salví](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/el_filibusterismo_se/characters/padre_salvi.md): The soft-spoken friar whose patient scheming once destroyed a young man's life, now returned to keep watch over his old victories.
- [Padre Fernandez](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/el_filibusterismo_se/characters/padre_fernandez.md): Padre Fernandez belongs to the same order that controls the University and the parishes, yet he is willing to sit down with the young men who despise his brethren and hear them out. His honesty cuts both ways: he concede
- [Paulita Gomez](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/el_filibusterismo_se/characters/paulita_gomez.md): Paulita moves through Manila society as the prize everyone wants and no one quite owns, courted by the ardent student Isagani and by the well-connected Juanito Pelaez. Her charm is real, but so is her calculation: she wa
- [Quiroga](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/el_filibusterismo_se/characters/quiroga.md): Quiroga runs a bazaar that is half shopfront and half warehouse of contraband, and he will bribe, flatter, or grovel to keep it running. His consuming ambition is to be named consul for his country, a title that would le
- [Sandoval](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/el_filibusterismo_se/characters/sandoval.md): A Spanish student who sympathizes with the Filipino students.
- [Tadeo](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/el_filibusterismo_se/characters/tadeo.md): A lazy and mischievous student who avoids studying.
- [Doña Victorina](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/el_filibusterismo_se/characters/dona_victorina.md): A pretentious Filipina who apes Spanish customs.
- [Capitan Tiago](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/el_filibusterismo_se/characters/capitan_tiago.md): Basilio's wealthy and pious patron who falls into decline.
- [Makaraig](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/el_filibusterismo_se/characters/makaraig.md): A wealthy student who funds the campaign for a Spanish academy.
- [Pecson](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/el_filibusterismo_se/characters/pecson.md): A cynical student who often makes dark jokes.
- [Don Timoteo Pelaez](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/el_filibusterismo_se/characters/don_timoteo_pelaez.md): Juanito's wealthy and ambitious father.
- [Juan Crisóstomo Ibarra](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/el_filibusterismo_se/characters/juan_crisostomo_ibarra.md): The protagonist of Noli Me Tangere, now believed dead.
- [María Clara](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/el_filibusterismo_se/characters/maria_clara.md): Ibarra's lost love, now a nun who has died.
- [Sister Balî](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/el_filibusterismo_se/characters/sister_bali.md): A nun who cares for María Clara in the convent.
- [Padre Florentino](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/el_filibusterismo_se/characters/padre_florentino.md): A retired Filipino priest who lives by the sea.
- [Camaroncocido](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/el_filibusterismo_se/characters/camaroncocido.md): A mysterious and deformed servant of Simoun.
- [Tandang Selo](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/el_filibusterismo_se/characters/tandang_selo.md): Cabesang Tales' elderly and mute father.
- [Padre Millon](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/el_filibusterismo_se/characters/padre_millon.md): A friar who teaches physics at the university.
- [Padre Sibyla](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/el_filibusterismo_se/characters/padre_sibyla.md): A Dominican friar and former teacher of philosophy.
- [Sinang](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/el_filibusterismo_se/characters/sinang.md): A lively young woman and friend of Paulita.
- [Sister Penchang](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/el_filibusterismo_se/characters/sister_penchang.md): A devout woman who takes Juli into her service.
- [Don Tiburcio de Espadaña](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/el_filibusterismo_se/characters/don_tiburcio.md): Doña Victorina's Spanish husband, a failed dentist.
- [Tanò](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/el_filibusterismo_se/characters/tano.md): Cabesang Tales' son who becomes a civil guard.

HTML index: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/el_filibusterismo_se/characters