MARIA CLARA AND CRISOSTOMO IBARRA LOVE STORY

2nd - 3rd Slide:

MARIA CLARA:
 Full Name: Maria Clara de los Santos
 Ethnicity: Spanish mestiza
 Relations
o Capitan Tiago (adoptive father)
o Doña Pia Alba (mother)
o Padre Damaso (godfather; biological father)
o Crisostomo Ibarra (fiancé)

SUMMARY:

4th Slide:
Maria Clara was born between Padre Damaso and Doña Pia. With her mother dying in
childbirth, Maria Clara was raised as the daughter of Capitan Tiago. Meanwhile, Crisostomo
was born into the Ibarra Family, raised by his father Don Rafael. Maria Clara and Crisostomo
Ibarra both grew up in San Diego and they became childhood friends. 

Maria Clara was sent to study in the convent of Sta. Clara. Soon after, in 1874,  Ibarra left for
Europe to study, with their parents agreeing to engage them. He later returned after seven
years upon hearing about the death of his father.

5th Slide:
At the end of October in 1881, Capitan Tiago held a welcoming party to honor Crisostomo Ibarra
attended by many guests including Maria Clara and Padre Damaso. As Ibarra greets Padre
Damaso, he was surprised as the priest denies any close friendship with Don Rafael. Later on,
during the dinner, Padre Damaso belittled Ibarra's studies abroad. Ibarra was offended so he
left the party,

As he walked to Plaza Binondo, he met the kind Lieutenant Teniente Guevara who told him that
his father died after accidentally killing a Spanish tax collector and was thrown in prison where
he died unhappily. Arriving at his hotel, Ibarra became troubled over his father's death.

The following day, Ibarra visited Maria Clara and the two spoke privately, professing their love
for one another and showing the mementos they saved from each other. Maria Clara teasingly
said that he had forgotten her because the girls in Germany were beautiful. Ibarra replied that
he had never forgotten her. As Maria Clara read Ibarra's farewell letter before leaving for
Europe, Ibarra remembered his All Saints' Day obligations, and left.

7th Slide:
The following day, which is All Saint’s Day, Ibarra went to San Diego’s cemetery to visit and
search for his father’s body. He found out that his father’s body was removed by order of the
parish priest to be buried in Chinese cemetery, however, as it was raining and the corpse was
heavy, the gravedigger simply threw the corpse into the lake.

He left the cemetery angrily. As he met Padre Salvi at the cemetery gate, he attacked him as he
thought that Padre Salvi was the one who ordered his father's body to be transferred. Padre
Salvi told him that he had nothing to do with it and that it was Padre Damaso who was
responsible for it.

The next day, Ibarra spoke with San Diego's schoolmaster, Pilosopo Tasio, about his plans to
establish a school in the town. Later on, Ibarra invited both Maria Clara and Padre Salvi to a
picnic in the woods. 

8th Slide:
On a picnic with María Clara, Crisóstomo goes on a fishing boat and helps the pilot, Elías, kill a
crocodile.After Elias failed to come up to the surface after a while, Ibarra dove in as well, to save
his life. Later on during the picnic, Ibarra received news that his plans for the school had been
approved. Shortly thereafter, a Guadia Civil suddenly arrived, looking for Elias who was hunted
for assaulting Padre Damaso and throwing the alfarez into a mud hole.

The next day, Ibarra consulted with the town sage, Pilosopo Tasio, about his proposed school.
Although advised not to continue with his plans in order not to anger the friars and government
officials, Ibarra pushed through with his plans.

9th Slide:
On the eve of the town's fiesta, Maria Clara encountered a leper while walking with Ibarra and
their friends. She then gave him her locket as an act of generosity. As the town fiesta drew near
Ibarra fell ill, he received a letter from Maria Clara, expressing her worry.

On the morning of the fiesta, there was a high mass in the church and Ibarra attended Padre
Damaso's sermon. After Padre Damaso’s sermon, the mass continued by Padre Salvi. Elias
quietly moved to Ibarra, who was kneeling and praying by Maria Clara’s side, and warned him
that his life was in danger. True to his suspicion, when Ibarra went down into the trench to
cement the cornerstone, the Derrick collapsed as Elias quickly pushed Ibarra’s aside to save his
life.

10th Slide:
During the dinner celebration for the school foundation, Padre Damaso insulted the memory of
Ibarra’s father. Ibarra almost killed the friar if he was not intervened by Maria Clara. This attacks
resulted for Ibarra to be excommunicated. Later, her father, Capitan Tiago, breaks off her
engagement to Crisóstomo and arranges for her engagement to a young Spanish man,
Linares. 
Maria Clara being obedient to her reputed father’s command and influenced by her mysterious
dread of Padre Salvi, 

11th Slide:
Maria Clara consents to this arrangement, but becomes seriously ill, only to be saved by
medicines sent secretly by Ibarra and clandestinely administered by a friend.
As Ibarra succeeds in having the excommunication removed, he insists on seeing Maria Clara.
Elias warned Ibarra that he would be implicated in an impending revolt. but desiring first to see
Maria Clara, he refuses to make his escape, and when the outbreak page occurs, he is arrested
as the instigator of it and thrown into prison in Manila.

Meanwhile, María Clara discovers that Captain Tiago isn’t her real father—rather, Padre
Damaso impregnated her mother, who died during childbirth. When Ibarra is put on trial after
being framed as a subversive by Padre Salvi, María Clara is blackmailed into providing the court
with letters Ibarra has sent her. She does so in order to keep secret the fact that Damaso 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.

12th Slide:
As Elias heard about Ibarra’s arrest, he burned all the papers that might incriminate Ibarra and
set Ibarra’s house on fire. Then he went to prison and helped Ibarra escape. Ibarra stopped at
the house of Capitan Tiago to see Maria Clara  and to share their tearful goodbyes.

Ibarra went back to the boat with Elias, going along the Pasig River. During the trip, they were
pursued by the Guardia Civil; Elias then jumped into the water as a diversion while Ibarra hid in
the boat, the two having agreed to meet at the grave of Don Pedro. Arriving there after a few
days, Ibarra found Elias dead along with a boy, Basilio. The two built a pyre and burned Elias'
body. 

There was news falsely reporting the death of Ibarra. As Maria Clara learned the reported death
of Ibarra in the chase on the Lake, 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.

Meanwhile, Ibarra fled San Diego and forged a new identity as the jeweler Simoun.

The novel ends with Maria Clara, an unhappy nun in Santa Clara nunnery — forever lost to the
world.

BASIS OF THE STORY

 It is said that Jose Rizal based Maria Clara from his real-life girlfriend and cousin, Leonor
Rivera. One reason to say that Maria Clara and Ibarra’s love story might also be based
from Leonor and Rizal’s love story. Their relationship was a secret because they were
distant relatives and their parents wouldn’t approve of it if they’ve known. Same as Maria
Clara and Ibarra’s which many were against theirs.
 Rizal received a letter announcing Leonor’s wedding together with another man. Rizal
described the news as a great blow to him as he was “stunned, his eyes dimmed with
tears, and his heart broke.” Rizal’s broken heart was injured even more upon learning
Leonor’s death two years after she got married. The same thing that happened with
Maria Clara and Ibarra. Maria Clara thought Ibarra died during a shooting and that made
her miserable. Instead of marrying another man, she chose to be with God. But she was
still full of sadness and soon she became sick and died. Rizal died. Ibarra died.
 From these similarities, there is a huge possible that the fictional couple’s story was
inspired from the writer and his girlfriend’s love story. Maybe it was Rizal’s way of
reliving the love that they shared together regardless of how it ended.