| Sumario: | Ethical Literary Criticism provides a clear and manageable ethical line, by which the heroes of John Milton's trilogy can be decoded as three-level ethical knots from varied perspectives of the Miltonic Wayfaring-Hero Paradigm. First, Adam and Eve in Paradise Lost , representing 'everyone', particularly from the angle of marriage, can be understood as the primal level of the Wayfaring-Hero Paradigm who follows God's Word. Then, Jesus in Paradise Regained can be interpreted as the Prototype of the Paradigm who follows God's Way by concretizing the Word from the Scripture to specific circumstances and actions. Finally, Samson in Samson Agonistes can be viewed as the Wayfaring-Martyr Hero of the Paradigm, exemplifying the highest level and the most Miltonic of the Paradigm. Such ethical reading discloses that Milton lays out the heroes in his trilogy Adam and Eve, Jesus, and Samson in progressing tendency, which endows the Miltonic Wayfaring-Hero Paradigm with uniqueness and profundity, rendering his heroes 'never to be surpassed'.
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