Although easily tempered by degree, Success or Failure describes whether the Overall Story Characters achieve what they set out to achieve at the beginning of the story. If they do, it is Success. If they don't, Failure. There is no value judgment involved.

The Overall Story Characters may learn they don't want what they thought they did, and in the end not go for it. Even though they have grown, this is a Failure--they did not achieve what they originally intended.

Similarly, they may achieve what they wanted and succeed even though they find it unfulfilling or unsatisfying.

The point here is not to pass a value judgment on the worth of their Success or Failure. Simply decide if the Overall Story Characters succeeded or failed in the attempt to achieve what they set out to achieve at the beginning of the story.

For example, Romeo and Juliet is a Success story because the feud between the families is ended at the end of the play after the death of Romeo and Juliet:

 

A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life;

Whole misadventured piteous overthrows

Do with their death bury their parents' strife.

The fearful passage of their death-mark'd love,

And the continuance of their parents' rage,

Which, but their children's end, nought could remove

 

(Romeo and Juliet, Prologue, William Shakespeare)

By contrast, Hamlet is a Failure story. Hamlet is unable to protect his family from his murderous uncle and the entire family is destroyed.

Examples of Story Outcome

Success Stories: The Silence of the Lambs; Being There; A Christmas Carol; The Verdict; Chinatown; Casablanca; The Godfather; The Story of Job; Charlotte's Web

Failure Stories: Hamlet; The Glass Menagerie; Rain Man; A Doll's House