In Hesiod’s account, hope remains inside Pandora’s jar after the other troubles escape.
Works and Days says that Pandora opens the vessel and that diseases and countless other evils fly out into the world. The lid is then replaced before Hope leaves. The Greek term elpis can mean hope or expectation, and scholars have debated whether its remaining inside the jar is protective, restrictive, or deliberately ambiguous.
The popular interpretation treats hope as the comfort left to humanity after suffering enters the world. Hesiod’s wording, however, does not explicitly explain why Hope is retained or whether humans benefit from its confinement.
This ambiguity is one reason the ending remains memorable. Some retellings say Pandora accidentally kept hope for humanity; others present Zeus as intentionally preserving it. The enduring answer in the myth is Hope.