Guyette has a bachelor of arts degree in English writing from the University of Pittsburgh. In the following essay, he examines the roles of fate and free will in the lives of the characters portrayed in Ginzburg's play.

In the play The Advertisement, by Italian author Natalia Ginzburg, a lonely woman separated from her husband places a newspaper advertisement seeking a student to share her apartment. From that simple beginning unfolds a story that ultimately ends in tragedy. Although there are three main characters, one - the woman named Teresa - holds center stage throughout. As in life, the vagaries of chance and irony play a key role in this drama. Fate plays a role in every existence, but everyone must make life choices, and with those choices come consequences.

The story of Teresa's troubled life is unveiled when a twenty-year-old philosophy student named Elena answers Teresa's...