Jason's gravest error that led to the ruin of many is his betrayel of his own wife, Medea to marry the king of Corinth, Creon's daughter. He was motivated by nothing but his own self interest reflecting his selfishness and unpardonable disregard of his duties and responsibilities as a husband and a father. Medea cries out,
What power or divine one is ready to hear you [Jason]:perjurer, liar, treacherous guest? (225)
Further, he is shameless enough to come to Medea and scold her for her loose tongue, which according to him caused her harm than own up to his own actions and apologize. What he could offer his wife who betrayed her own family for him was only to provide her with aid and money in her exile than prevent it from happening at all, reflecting his incompetence as a husband. Thus he can be rightly accused of betrayal, cowardice and incompetence.
In Medea, Jason has done some wrong things. He dishonors the commitment he made to his wife, leaves his family, and marries someone else, even though he is already married to Medea. Even if this is acceptable in society and he has good reasons, he never gives her a choice.
Jason and Medea were married; they had sworn an oath to be together and build a life together. He ultimately decides not to honor this oath in a way that's acceptable to Medea when he decides to commit to Glauce. It's clear that, despite the things he promised her when he convinced her to marry him and have his children, Jason has no care for Medea. It's easy for him to walk away from her and commit his life to another. Leaving your wife in the way Jason did is wrong morally. He's not sorry. He believes all woman are the same and ultimately unnecessary. He wishes men could have children without women. To him, marriage is only a means to an end.
Jason also abandoned his responsibilities. He was responsible not only for being Medea's husband but for building a life with her. In their history together, she helped him achieve his goals, saved his life, and he pledged that they would be together. This isn't just marriage—it's a partnership between two people. When he leaves Medea, the goals they'd set change irreparably. Her place in society is changed. She says that "divorce is unsavoury for a woman and it is not possible to say no to one's husband."
Jason takes away Medea's choices. She's no longer his wife and will only stay on as his second woman. Medea had a good life before she left to live with Jason in Greece. She laments this choice because Jason is happy in Greece and she's far from home and left, now, with nothing. She betrayed her family for Jason. Creon, Glauce's father, banishes her for the fear that he'll hurt his daughter. Jason comes to Medea and says, "This is not the first time [...] I have seen how utterly stupid an intransigent temper can be." He points out that she could have stayed in her home by obeying him and accepting his new marriage but now has to be banished.
Jason also did a disservice to his children. He know what kind of woman Medea is and still leaves them with her when he goes to Glauce. Medea is screaming out her hatred for them and her father. She says, "You horrible children, of a mother who hates you / god damn you with your father, and the whole house go to Hell." Jason either isn't interested enough or clever enough to see that she'll use them against him, even though it's obvious in her character. He's selfish and self-centered.
Jason wants to marry Glauce for social position and money. He feels that he and Medea are too poor for him to be happy. Jason does care about his sons and wants them to be well-placed to have a good life in Greece. He says,
Now the reproaches you heap on my royal marriage,here I will prove first that I did the smart thing and showed good sense and finally that I am a great benefactor to you and my children. Let me finish.When I arrived here from the land of Iolcus dragging with me many useless encumbrances, what luckier opportunity could I have found than, as a refugee, to marry the king's daughter? It is not what is eating you, that I hated my marriage to you and was infatuated by desire of my new bride, and not that I had a craving for more and more children —the ones I have are enough and I am satisfied with them—but so that—and this is the point—we might live well and not be in need. I am well aware that even a friend shuns a poor man and stays out of his way, and I wanted to bring up children worthily of my house, and father brothers to your children and put them on an equal footing and join the families so that we could live well.
These motivations, of course, never come to fruition. Instead, Creon, Glauce, and Jason's children are all killed in the course of Medea's revenge.
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