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Mabuhay ang panitikang Filipino! Did you find this article helpful? Share this guide with your classmates or theater club. The story of Julia and Tenong deserves to be told for another hundred years.
He did not die. The rosary was a ruse to throw off his pursuers. Tenong returns to find his beloved Julia married to another man. A tense confrontation occurs between Tenong, Miguel, and Julia.
Word reaches the town that Tenong has been killed in battle. The news arrives via a letter and a bloodied rosary. Julia collapses in grief. Her "wound" is invisible—a fatal wound of the heart that no medicine can cure. The dramatic irony is thick: the audience is led to believe Tenong is dead.
Desperate to avoid the scandal of an unmarried daughter, Aunt Ning arranges for Julia to marry , a wealthy but boorish man loyal to the Spanish friars. The curtain closes on Act One as Julia is dragged to the chapel, her heart broken but her soul still loyal to Tenong. Act Two: The Wound and the Lie Several years pass. The revolution has failed in San Miguel; the Spanish remain in power. We find Julia married to Miguel, but she is a ghost of her former self. She refuses to consummate the marriage, wearing only black and clutching a handkerchief given to her by Tenong.
Julia’s mother, (Tandang Ning), is a principalia (local aristocracy) who fears the Spanish more than she loves her daughter’s happiness. She forces Julia to break off the engagement. To save his life, Tenong flees the town, leaving Julia with a promise: "Wait for me."