Did Jose Rizal Read "Notre Dame De Paris" While Writing His Novel "Noli Me Tangere"?
Today is Rizal Day and I feel like revisiting a high school lecture. It was all about Noli Me Tangere meaning Touch Me Not . It would be interesting that, while in college, I did notice the parallelism between two books-- Noli Me Tangere and Notre Dame De Paris (Our Lady of Paris) which is more popularly known as The Hunchback of Notre Dame . My first exposure to the story was the Disney version (in 1996) and later some adaptive versions. The Disney version changed Frollo from a priest to a judge, in contrast to the original novel. Later, we had Noli Me Tangere where Padre Salvi lusts after Maria Clara, who unknown to him was really Padre Damaso's biological daughter. Both Frollo and Salvi are bound to celibacy by their professions. The term Kastila in Filipino may come from Castile or Castillian. Castile is a place in Central Spain. I bet a lot of Filipinos of Spanish descent may be of Castillan descent. Above is the song "Hellfire" by Disney in Castillian Spanish. I...