In the traditional Pandora myth, hope was the single good remaining after the evils escaped from the jar.
Hesiod describes the vessel as containing destructive forces or troubles that spread among humanity when Pandora opens it. The vessel is then closed before hope can escape. This detail has generated debate because hope can be understood either as a blessing preserved for humans or as another spirit kept inside the jar.
The Greek term is elpis, commonly translated as “hope.” Its precise moral status is not completely straightforward in Hesiod's poem, and ancient and modern interpreters have disagreed about whether Zeus intended hope as comfort or confinement.
The later expression “hope remained in the box” usually treats hope as a positive gift. That familiar interpretation is broader and more optimistic than the ambiguous wording of the ancient source. Even so, hope is the canonical answer associated with the story.