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The climax (from the Greek word ''κλῖμαξ'', meaning "staircase" and "ladder") or turning point of a narrative work is its point of highest tension and drama, or it is the time when the action starts during which the solution is given. The climax of a story is a literary element.
The climax (from the Greek word ''κλῖμαξ'', meaning "staircase" and "ladder") or turning point of a narrative work is its point of highest tension and drama, or it is the time when the action starts during which the solution is given. The climax of a story is a literary element.
Examples
The punch line of a joke is an analogy for the climax of a fictional narrative, though the absence of any falling action is an essential difference, which may reflect the nature ofhumor
Humour (Commonwealth English) or humor (American English) is the tendency of experiences to provoke laughter and provide amusement. The term derives from the humoral medicine of the ancient Greeks, which taught that the balance of fluids in ...
as opposed to the nature of drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has b ...
.
In non-fictional narrative genre
Genre () is any form or type of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially-agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other f ...
s, even though the author does not have the same freedom to control the action and "plot" as in works of fiction, the selection of subject matter, degree of detail, and emphasis permit an author to create similar structures, i.e., to construct a dramatization.
In the play '' Hippolytus'', by Greek playwright Euripides
Euripides (; grc, Εὐριπίδης, Eurīpídēs, ; ) was a tragedian of classical Athens. Along with Aeschylus and Sophocles, he is one of the three ancient Greek tragedians for whom any plays have survived in full. Some ancient scholars ...
, the climax arrives when Phaedra
Phaedra may refer to:
Mythology
* Phaedra (mythology), Cretan princess, daughter of Minos and Pasiphaë, wife of Theseus
Arts and entertainment
* ''Phaedra'' (Alexandre Cabanel), an 1880 painting
Film
* ''Phaedra'' (film), a 1962 film by ...
hears Hippolytus react badly because of her love for him. That is the moment that Aphrodite
Aphrodite ( ; grc-gre, Ἀφροδίτη, Aphrodítē; , , ) is an ancient Greek goddess associated with love, lust, beauty, pleasure, passion, and procreation. She was syncretized with the Roman goddess . Aphrodite's major symbols incl ...
's curse is finally fulfilled, and it is the turning point of the play.
Anticlimax
An anticlimax is a situation in a plot in which something which would appear to be difficult to solve is solved through something trivial. For example, destroying a heavily guarded facility would require advanced technology, teamwork, and weaponry for a climax, but for an anticlimax, it may just require pushing a red button which reads, "Emergency Self-Destruct", or simply filling out an eviction notice and destroying the building. An example is the ending of '' The War of the Worlds'', where amidst the chaos of the extraterrestrial takeover of planetEarth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's sur ...
, the aliens are defeated by the most unexpected organism: the common cold virus. Another example could involve the protagonist
A protagonist () is the main character of a story. The protagonist makes key decisions that affect the plot, primarily influencing the story and propelling it forward, and is often the character who faces the most significant obstacles. If a st ...
faced with insurmountable odds and ultimately being killed without accomplishing his goal, despite what appears to be a turning point for the character.
The '' deus ex machina'' is a form of anticlimax, where an unseen and completely unrelated outside influence enters the story and solves the central problem.
See also
* Dramatic structure * Literary element * Climax as a rhetorical deviceReferences
{{DEFAULTSORT:Climax (Narrative) Narratology Fiction Plot (narrative)