In Greek mythology, Pandora closes the container after the evils escape. Hesiod’s Works and Days says that she replaces the lid, but the harmful contents have already gone out into the world.
This action creates the story’s final image: the container no longer holds the evils, but Hope remains inside. The detail is sometimes retold as though Pandora deliberately released every evil and then chose to preserve Hope. Hesiod’s wording is less straightforward about her motives and about whether Hope is a blessing, a delayed presence, or something humans need because suffering has arrived.
Pandora’s closing of the jar also distinguishes the earliest literary version from many later artistic adaptations. Paintings, poems, films, and children’s books often add dramatic motives or show a final glow escaping. Those additions are not all part of Hesiod’s account. The stable point is that Pandora shuts the container after the destructive contents have escaped.