In Hesiod’s myth, hope remains inside Pandora’s container after its contents escape. The Greek word is elpis, commonly translated as “hope.”
Works and Days says that the destructive forces fly out when Pandora opens the vessel, but hope remains within. The exact meaning is debated because the poem does not explain plainly whether hope is a blessing preserved for humanity or another troubling thing kept from humanity. The traditional interpretation treats hope as the consolation left behind.
The story therefore does not simply say that every evil escaped while one good quality stayed. The status of hope has been discussed by classicists for centuries. Some interpretations view it as a positive resource that enables people to endure suffering; others note that hope can also involve expectation of future events and may fit the poem’s darker tone.
Modern retellings usually present the ending positively. They often show Pandora closing the container just in time to preserve hope for people. That familiar moral is influential, but it is more definite than the ambiguity of Hesiod’s original wording.