The beautiful María Clara is the childhood sweetheart and fiancée of the protagonist, Crisóstomo Ibarra, who returns to his Filipino hometown of San Diego to marry her.

A devout Roman Catholic, she became the epitome of virtue; "demure and self-effacing" and endowed with beauty, grace and charm, she was promoted by Rizal as the "ideal image"[1] of a Filipino woman who deserves to be placed on the "pedestal of male honour".

Since childhood her hair had an almost golden hue; her nose, of a correct profile, was neither sharp nor flat; her mouth reminded one of her mother's, small and perfect, with two beautiful dimples on her cheeks.

"[3]The beautiful María Clara is the childhood sweetheart and fiancée of the protagonist, Crisóstomo Ibarra, who returns to his Filipino hometown of San Diego to marry her.

[3] Although Noli only touches upon her briefly in chapters, she is depicted as playful, exchanging wit and bantering with Ibarra, as well as expressing jealous possession when talking about him to her friends.

"[9]This ultimatum caused Padre Dámaso to relent and permit his daughter's entry into the Royal Monastery of Saint Clare (that until 1945 stood in Intramuros).

Although praised and idolized, María Clara's chaste, "masochistic" and "easily fainting" character has also been denounced as the "greatest misfortune that has befallen the Filipina in the last one hundred years".

[12] Catholicism during Spanish colonial rule influenced a new ideal for Filipino women and led to taboos surrounding the discussion and expression of female sexuality.

[13] While many scholars have attacked the idealized María Clara, writers such as Joaquin disagree that Rizal wrote the character as an example for Filipino women to imitate.

[14] Writers such as Joaquin, Ante Radaic, and Wenceslao Retana, saw María Clara as a symbol of the Philippines, especially in the sad fate which befalls her.