CHARACTERS:
- PACIANO- Rizal’s brother who approved his secret departure
- JOSE MERCADO- Rizal’s cousin from Binan, Laguna; the name which he use to go abroad to avoid detection
- DONATO LECHA- the ship captain he befriended from Asturias, Spain
- BASILIO TEODORO MORAN- publisher of Diariong Tagalog
- MARCELO H. DEL PILAR- translated his Spanish articles in Tagalog for publication
- JOSE M. CECILIO (CHENGOY)- his friend who informed him of Leonor Rivera
- DON PABLO ORTIGA Y REY- vice-president of the Council of the Philippines in the Ministry of Colonies; father of Consuelo Ortiga y Rey
- CONSUELO ORTIGA Y REY- a woman whom he had a romance
- DR. NICAISE- the Doctor whom he observed
The Masons
- MIGUEL MORAYTA- statesman, professor, historian and writer; proclaimed the “Freedom of Science and the Teacher”
- FRANCISCO PI Y MARGAL- journalist, statesman, and former president of the First Spanish Republic
- MANUEL BECERRA- minister of Ultramar (Colonies)
- EMILIO JUNOY- journalist and member of the Spanish Cortes
- JUAN RUIZ ZORILLA- parliamentarian and head of the Republican Progressive Party in Madrid.
- JUAN LUNA- won the first prize in National Exposition of Fine Arts in Madrid for his Spoliarium
- FELIX RESURRECCION HIDALGO- won the second prize in National Exposition of Fine Arts in Madrid for his Christian Virgins Exposed to the Populace
- DR. CREUS- a very unpopular man disliked by everybody
IMPORTANT EVENTS
Rizal departed for Spain secretly for two reasons and those were (1) to avoid detection by the Spanish authorities and the friars and (2) his parents do not know about his departure. Rizal went abroad to observe keenly the life and culture, languages and customs, industries and commerce, and governments and laws of the European nations in order to prepare himself in the mighty task in liberating his oppressed people from Spanish tyranny.
On his travel to Spain, Rizal had seen and stayed