In William Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet, the story reaches its climax in Act 3. In the first scene of the act, Romeo challenges Tybalt to a duel.

After Romeo kills Tybalt, he realizes that he has killed his wife’s cousin. This juncture in the play is a climax, as the audience wonders how Romeo would get out of this terrible situation. Similarly, it qualifies as a climax because, after this act, all the prior conflicts start to be resolved, and mysteries unfold themselves, thus moving the story toward its logical conclusion during the coming scenes.

This line from Martin Luther King’s famous speech, I Have a Dream, qualifies as the climax of the speech. It criticizes and rejects racial discrimination suffered by black Americans at the hands of white Americans.

“This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the unalienable Rights of Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”