Judgement
This book is Gower's judgement upon his society. In the most humble manner possible, he attempts to shed light upon the moral failures of his society. He accomplishes this by referring to commonly accepted ancient texts which describe ethics such as the Bible. Within the narrative of the book, he gives voice to these criticisms in the character of Genius. Genius is tasked by Venus to listen to the full confession of Amans, the protagonist. According to his assignment, Genius leads Amans through the seven deadly sins of the Christian religion, demanding an account for each of them in Amans' life. He is a judge with real authority, granted him by Venus. In keeping with his task, he offers judgement upon Amans' failures and attempts to teach him a better way through many stories about ethical behavior.
Failure
At the beginning of the book, Amans is a pitiful character. He's wandering around in the forest, cursing his life. In desperation he calls out to Cupid and Venus to free him from his unrequited love. He just wants to be loved or to longer feel the pain of loving, but he's unwilling to take any of the necessary steps to accomplish either of these things. Venus arrives and quickly explains to Amans that he has failed. She has no business being here to listen to his complaints. Taking mercy upon him, however, Venus tells him to confess all of his sins to Genius and she will cure him. She's attempting to show him that the path to peace means taking responsibility for his failures. Why is he more concerned about being loved than loving? His failure is one of abnegation.
Virtue
Rather than leave Amans with a long list of sins on which to dwell, Genius takes every opportunity to educate the poor man. He walks him through tale after tale of people recognizing their failures and learning to behave differently -- morally. He teaches Amans of the virtues which can replace his vices. If he had merely received a confession and left, he would have done Amans no good. Recognizing a fault does not correct it. In fact, a confession opens up a space in a person's soul which is eagerly awaiting some kind of fulfillment. More than likely, Amans would return to his sinful ways if Amans had neglected to offer him an alternate path. Nevertheless, Amans must choose the virtues and sacrifice dearly to have them. He demonstrates his willingness to do so when he sits through the entire confession. In the end, he is rewarded for his humility with relief from his infatuation.
