Introduction

Climax is probably one of the most well known literary devices. Every story has a climax—if you can't find the climax of the story, likely it isn't much of a story. The climax is where all the tenison comes to a head; it sets us up for the resolution. In most stories, this is the moment everyone is waiting for: a battle, a confrontation, a revelation, etc.

Have you ever had a story told to you (whether by a person or through a book or movie) and at the end you didn't know what the point was? Chance are, it was missing a climax. The climax is one of the most important elements of the story because without it, you just have a series of events that don't move toward any tpye of resolution.

Definition

The climax of the story is the most intense moment and when the largest or most central conflict comes to a head. This is the moment when the audience is on the edge of their seat, biting their nails, and eagerly awaiting the protagonist's victory. The genre of the story plays a major point in what we should expect in a climax. For example, an action adventure is probably going to have a major battle scene or physical fight as a climax, whereas a drama might have more of a verbal altercation as the climax. For some stories, the climax is purely emotional.[5]

Secular Examples

A Simple Example

In Disney's The Little Mermaid, the climax of the story is when Ariel confronts the Ursula who has tricked the prince into marrying her instead. It is during this scene that the prince learns Ariel's true identity, Ursula reveals her plan to use Ariel to get to King Trident, and Ariel gains the strength to stand up for herself. In this moment all the secrets are laid out on the table, everyone in brought up to speed, and a final battle ensues to to resolve the conflict.

A More Complex Example

Let's look at a more complex example in J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. This story is broken into three parts (whether in book form or cinema), with each part contiaining its own climax, with the final part's climax acting as the climax of the overall storyline. Making things even more complex is the fact that the main characters of the story split up, forming subplots within the overarching plot and each of these has its own climax as well.

In the first book, the climax of the story is when the group splits up in the woods which leads to them actually splitting up. Boromir attacks Frodo, causing him to run away (with Sam following him). Merry and Pippin are abducted by the orcs. Legolas, Aragorn, and Gimili are left to decide how they should continue and which group of Hobbits they should pursue. This moment reveals the true nature of the ring—given time it would have caused the entire group to turn on each other—and the loyalty of Sam. It also introduces the very real danger of the journey the group has embarked on; one memeber of the fellowship is presumed dead and two are in harms way. It is also the test of the oath they have taken—will they continue working toward the same goal even when apart?

The second book climaxes with a battle. This is the first real battle of the story and a glimpse at the true scale of the war that is at hand. It also reiterates major themes (another literary device) in the story. The men are out numbered, but the elves come to help. Just when it looks like all hope is lost, Gandalf arrives with reinforcements. This pattern occurs throughout the book, but its also the point in the story when men acheive a victory over evil and regain hope that they have a chance to defeat Sauron.

The climax of the third book is the same as that of the overall main story: the destruction of the ring. The obvious climax of this plot occurs in the third book/movie when Frodo is standing inside Mount Doom wrestling with whether to destroy the ring or not.

At the same time, we have the subplot of Aragorn fulfilling his destiny to be the King of Gondor. Arguably, the climax of his story is when he chooses to wield the Nasrul blade and call upon the undead army to serve him. If we look at the story through the eyes of Merry and Pippin, the climax for them is when they are separated and must navigate the world on their own for the first time.

Biblical Examples

Like Lord of the Rings, the Bible is comprised of multiple books with an overarching plot and several subplots, which means there are multiple climaxes. Let's think of some examples:

Note, stories like Joseph's and Moses' could be broken into a trilogy much like the Lord of the Rings.

In addition to taking note of stories that could be seen as much larger epic tales, I realized that the climax of a story is some what subjective and extremely dependent upon how you view the narrative. Let's take the story of Joseph as an example. We could argue that the story is about a boy who is envied because he is the favorite child, being humbled and then raised back up to greatness. If this is our perception of the story, we might conclude that the overall climax of the story is when he is thrown into jail and must interpret Pharaoh's dream to earn the position of secon highest in the kingdom. There are no more obstacles in Joseph's way (with respect to success in life) after this point in the story. However, from a spiritual perspective, we might frame the story more around the concept of a chosen one being betrayed by someone they love, and then rising up from that betrayal (parallelling the story of Messiah). In this case, the climax of the story is more likely to be when Joseph's brother appear in Egypt during the famine. The brothers fully repent of the harm they've caused Joseph and Joseph fully forgives his brothers. This is the spiritual and emotional climax of the narrative.

Challenge #1

I callenged myself to find the climax for some of the most important people in the Bible. The following are not the end all be all, but what I thought based on my understanding of this literary device. If you have different answers or objections (or both), let me know in the comments.

Challenge #2

I also challenged myself to find the climax for every book in the Bible. On top of not being a literary expert, I'm well aware that sometimes there isn't a right answer. So below is what I came up with. If you thought of something different, let me know in the comments!

Downloadable

You can download the pages I created in my video in PDF form.

Download the PDF

References & Footnotes

1. Daniel Bal and Elizabeth Foster. "Climax in Literature | Definition & Examples". Study.com. updated November 21, 2023; visited June 14, 2025
2. Lindsay Kramer. "What Is the Climax of a Story?". Grammarly. updated May 31, 2024; visited June 14, 2025
3. "Climax". Britannica. February 11, 2016; visited June 14, 2025
4. "Climax". Literary Terms; visited June 14, 2025
5. I have the perfect example of this but the movie just came out and I don't want to spoil it for people. Maybe in a few years I'll come back and add that example, but in the mean time, the best I can come up with is The Notebook; when Allie remembers (if only briefly) that the story is about her and the man reading it to her is her husband.
6. Journal page of this literary device as a PDF. It was created using Crayola Supertips.