"Unlike the colony, the novel (Noli) conjures a world where characters are free to behave appropriate to their background and circumstances. The author may intervene, but he does not violate the essential freedom of the characters."
- Vicente Rafael in his book The Promise of the Foreign…, Ch 4, pg 99
Our history has been a lie (or at the very least, partial)! MARIA CLARA IS NOT A WEAKLING contrary to what history led us to believe. Just like how that line from Switchfoot’s Selling the News goes, "THE FACT IS FICTION."
Soleil Ignacio’s illustration of Maria Clara and Sisa. Source
(Interesting illustration! Sisa looks very Western tho. Why?)
We all have misjudged her (except for brilliant people like Nick Joaquin) - thinking and believing that she is such a frail, weak character. But when you read Noli VERY CAREFULLY you will see a Maria Clara who is strong and a rebel in her own right that even Damaso could not tame - could not make her change her mind about going to the convent.
We have called her a “weakling and a hybrid.” A weakling who preferred to be locked in a convent, sacrificing her own happiness, who preferred to die than marry the man she was told to marry. Maria Clara may have acted like an ignorant, dumb girl on her encounter with the leper (giving the sick man her locket of gold covered with diamonds and emeralds ,and not to mention, containing a chip of St. Peter’s boat), but this action can only be attributed to her upbringing. Now here comes the importance of context. Maria Clara was raised in a super rich household. Her father foster father, Capitan Tiago, was a filthy rich man who so longed for an heir so it’s no wonder Maria was pampered and was shielded from other people’s misery (definitely not her fault. In those times, you do as you’re told or they’d scare the heck out of you saying you’d go to Hell. Oh people were/are terrified of Hell).
"Maria Clara wanted to go home. She had lost all her gaiety and her good humor. "So there are people who are not happy!" she murmured. (After her encounter with the leper and Sisa. Translation by Lacson-Locsin)
Growing up without a mother and being in a different situation than most of the poor souls in Noli, her hardships are of a different level. Pain is subjective. What’s painful for you may not be painful for others. Please remember that. Though pampered, she knew what sacrifice is.
Let’s go back to the Idyll in an Azotea, Chapter 7 of the Noli. This was Ibarra and Maria Clara’s first meeting after the former’s return from Europe (being gone for 7 years).
When Ibarra needed to leave, Maria Clara did not detain him. (unlike those clingy girlfriend brats). Read how she responded.
Brats be like, “Stay here. Let the dead bury their dead. It’s been ages since the last time we’re together.”
(gif owner kyuunqsoo)
But Maria Clara, “(she) was silent; she fixed her large and dreamy eyes on him for some time, and gathering some flowers, told him with feeling:
"Go, I will not keep you any longer; in a few days we will see each other again. Put this flower on your parents’ tomb."
SHE FULLY UNDERSTANDS HER FIANCEE’S DUTIES! SHE IS NOT A CLINGY WEAK GIRL.EVEN RESPECTS IBARRA’S PARENTS.
Now let’s transport ourselves to that bangka and go fishing with Ibarra, Maria Clara and co.
Remember the crocodile scene? MARIA CLARA DID NOT FAINT! Nope, she did not! And she was very kind to Elias! Imagine, SHE was the one who started a conversation with him.
And when she sang this song…
Weak girls would never say, more so sing about, how sweet it is to die for one’s own country! Weak girls are so selfish to even think about something beyond themselves and Maria Clara ain’t one of those gals!
Maria Clara was the ONLY ONE who was brave enought to stop Crisostomo Ibarra from killing Damaso. Nobody moved to separate the two men - none of the friars, not even the Mayor. Not one but Maria Clara! Take that judgmental people!
Now fast forward to when she and Ibarra painfully parted. Boy, that scene was intense!
- “I have heard that you are getting married…”
"Yes!" sobbed the young woman:" my father requires of me this sacrifice…! He loved me and brought me up and that was not his duty. I am paying this debt of gratitude, assuring him peace…"
(…)
Maria took the young man’s head in her hands and kissed her lips repeatedly, embraced him and afterwards brusquely pushed him away from her.
"Go! go quickly!" she told him. "Go, farewell!"
(Translation by Lacson-Locsin)
I saw Hua Mulan parting away from the Prince. *cries Cagayan river* Still at that point Maria Clara had the composure and still honoring her father fathers. SHE DID NOT RUN AWAY with Ibarra!
Maria Clara asked P. Damaso to break her impeding marriage with Linares. She threatened, with firm conviction, that she’d kill herself if she’s not sent to the convent. Both ways she dies. And don’t tell me she did this because she had lost her love. It takes strength, strong will to face death and going to the nunnery is dying to self (God knows what goes in there).
When I googled to see what people have said about Maria Clara, I found that I am not the only one who has this opinion of Noli’s damsel.
(gif owner: hakyeonir)
The genius Nick Joaquin perfectly summarized my sentiments (awesome article here):
"In Jose Rizal’s Maria Clara, for instance, Nick finds a strong woman, not a weakling. He contends that, contrary to most people’s opinion, Maria Clara in the novel Noli Me Tangere goes to the nunnery not out of weakness but out of strength. In Philippine colonial times, a woman normally would not dare disobey parental wishes, and a single, nubile lass, pretty and rich at that, was expected to marry. Maria Clara, however, does not heed her foster parents’ command that she marry the man of their choice, and instead chooses to enter the convent. She does so even against the plea of her real father, Padre Damaso. Maria Clara, Nick argues, finds the strength to live in spiritual confinement rather than to marry or to commit suicide."
HEROISM and BRAVERY just like everything else should be examined within context. It is wrong to think of Maria Clara as a weakling (other than the fact that she gets sick easily!) Maria Clara is a strong woman and a rebel in her own right! Never look at her the same way again.
