The novella of the "Man too Curious for His Own Good" (entitled according to Putnam's translation of Don Quixote) has been a controversial subject among critics. Many argue that the story has no place in the novel as a whole; many consider it integral. Cervantes himself writes in Part Two of Don Quixote that he has been criticized for inserting many extraneous stories in his history of the renowned knight, and he does not repeat this device when he writes the second part.
The story of the Curious Impertinent tells of a man who depends entirely on tested experience as a way to determine truth. Anselmo is so persistent in demanding proof of his wife's virtue that he succeeds, despite his deepest desires, in making her unfaithful. Don Quixote, on the other hand, would never submit his ideals to a test of the senses. He knows that an attitude of "seeing is believing" uncovers, not truths, but lies, and the experience of Anselmo illustrates this point. Once blessed with a virtuous wife and loyal friend, the unfortunate cuckold dies, a victim to a faith that could not free itself from depending on tangible proofs.
Besides posing and solving an interesting problem, the story also serves as a point of comparison between the flesh-and-blood creations of the knight and squire and these cardboard figures in the curate's manuscript. When Sancho interrupts the reading, we are made to feel that reality has now intruded upon a fictional situation even though we discover Don Quixote in the middle of a fantastic and ridiculous battle against some wineskins. Thus after the formal, stylized narrative of the lives of Lothario, Camilla, and Anselmo is completed, the reader can, with refreshed understanding, follow the more complex, unpredictable adventures of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza.
