A number of studies have been conducted at both undergraduate and postrngraduate levels to study the portrayal of women characters in literaturernthough most of them seem to lack depth for they were not analyzed from arnclearly defined theoretical frame work. Besides, in previous studies, muchrnattention has not been given to the discussion of the portrayal of womenrnch aracters in novels written at different periods to find whether strong andrnliberated women a re appearing in view of the changing real ities.rnThe aim of this thesis is, therefore, to analyze the portrayal of major femalerncharacters in four Amharic novels, written during the pre-Italian occupationrn(1908-1935), the post war period (1941-1958) and the modern period (1950srnand 1960s), and see if new images of women are emerging.rnThe novels selected for discussion include: Afework Gebreyesus's Tobyarn(1908), Hiruy Woldeselassie's Yelib Hassab: Yebirhanena Yetsion MogessarnGabicha (1931), Negash Gebremariam's Setegna Adari (1964) anct BealurnGirma's Kadma's Bashager (1970). Major characters have been identifiedrnand discussed separately in the order of the publication of each book. Thernportrayals are analyzed from the feminist perspective.rnThe thes is has five chapters. In the first chapter, the statement of thernproblem, objectives of the study, significance of the study, limitations of thernstudy, methodology and organization of the paper are presented. In chapterrntwo, feminist theories, literary criticism and review of related literature havernbeen discussed. In chapter three, the portrayal of the female characters isrndiscussed. In chapter four, comparative analyses of the portrayals arernpresented. Finally, conclusions are given in chapter five.rnThe main finding of thi s study is th at women characlers are portrayed inrntheir traditional and biological roles . They are depicted as loyal housewives,rnmothers, mistresses, lovers and sex objects. For insta nce, Afework's Tobya isrnpres ented as beautiful, pious, selfless and physically and menta lly strong.rnHowever, despite her tremendous positive qualities, in the end she becomesrna mere housewife, h er main role being bearing and taking care of children.rnHiruy's Tsion Mogessa is presented as cute and intelligent. She ch ooses tornlearn writing and reading history instead of preparing tej and tella andrncooking and baking enjera. Notwithstanding this however, after her ma rriagernshe becomes a mere housewife cheerfully performing domes tic duties su chrnas cooking and serving within the traditional milieu. Negash 's Ena nu , arnvictim of early marriage, escapes from a jealous and cruel husband to fin a llyrnbecome a prostitute. She bea rs an illegitimate child for whose sake she qui tsrnher job and as a consequence she suffers from a bject poverty and en dlessrnmishaps. Bealu's Lulit is first presented as proud, assertive a nd aggres s ive.rnAfter her marriage, however, she turns out to be weak, timid , selfless and arndevout wife who places her husband before herself.rnEven if glorified as virtuous, devout, intelligent and physically strong forrnthematic purposes, their ultimate ambition is ma rriage and they arernexpected to be loyal, obedient and selfless mothers. Other than in the h ousernsphere, they don't participa te in social and political life. Hence, educated ,rnself-reliant and strong women who take part in all areas of life have not beenrnportrayed in the four novels discussed.