Hermes gives Pandora her deceptive character in Hesiod’s Works and Days.
Hermes is the Olympian messenger and a god associated with travel, trade, boundaries, language, and cunning. In Hesiod’s description of Pandora’s creation, Zeus instructs Hermes to give her a shameless mind and a deceitful nature. This contribution makes Pandora part of a deliberate divine punishment rather than merely an innocent figure overcome by curiosity.
Other gods contribute different qualities. Hephaestus shapes her from earth, Athena teaches her crafts, and Aphrodite gives her charm. The distribution of traits creates a composite person assembled through divine gifts.
Modern retellings often say only that Pandora was curious, but Hesiod’s poem emphasizes deception and the gods’ planning. The popular image of a woman acting alone therefore omits the wider chain of commands and gifts that structures the original myth.