In stanza two, Sylvia Plath gives us more detail about the bee box. She says that "the box is locked" because its contents are "dangerous", yet the she "can't keep away from it". This suggests that whatever is in her mind, can cause damage to the people around her, but unfortunately she cannot change her ideas. The fact that she has to "live with it overnight" implies that this inner conflict is at all times taking place, even in her dreams. She is not fully aware of what is bothering her for "there are no windows" so she "can't see what is in there", however she knows that she cannot reveal it for there is "no exit". This also reflects her sense of entrapment and the fact that there is only a "little grid" makes one think of a prison and thus emphasises this point.
The idea of entrapment is further highlighted in stanza three. She puts her "eye to the grid" but she cannot see anything for it is "dark, dark". The repetition of the word "dark" emphasises the sense of the unknown. It reminds her of "swarmy feeling of African hands minute and shrunk for export". Here her role in relation to the box is that of slave trader or colonising exporter. This suggests that for the first time she realises that she has power over her mind and body. However, although she tries to suppress her inner turmoils by shrinking them, they become more agitated and start "angrily clambering", which implies that they are not under her control after all.
The speaker then starts considering the possibility of letting "them out" but she does not know "how". This could suggest that she has been keeping this inside her for so long that she does not know how to reveal her real self any longer. In contrast to the previous stanza where she focused mainly on what she could see, in this stanza she starts to focus on what she can hear. The "noise" appalls" her for they are "unintelligible syllables". This again suggests that she does like this constant torment in her head specially since she cannot understand it. It is illustrated very well as the buzzing of bees usually annoys people and we cannot understand it. She then compares her situation to a "Roman mob". The bees are "small, taken one by one" but however they are always found "together". This is like the conflicts in her mind. They are not of great importance when looked at individually, but when looked at "together", they create great confusion which causes her to stop making sense out of them.
In continuation from stanza four, stanza five starts by saying that she "lay [her] ear to furious Latin". This again implies that she cannot understand what is inside the box, or in other words, her mind. The word "furious" suggests once again that the bees, or her thoughts, are agitated and longing to come out but that at the same time they are dangerous. By stating that she is "not Caesar", she relinquishes power over this mob for she cannot understand them but at the same time she is telling them not to kill her as Caesar was assassinated by his people. Sylvia Plath then changes the focus of the poem. She seems to realise that she has "simply ordered a box of maniacs" but that however they "can be sent back" . This reflects the idea that she sees that her thoughts are not normal and thus chooses to suppress them even further. She once again resumes control over the box, or herself, and states that she is the "owner". To show this power she says that "they can die, I need feed them nothing". The syntax of this line is contorted to throw emphasis on the likelihood that she will care for them however. The affirmative phrase "I need feed them" comes first and then, as an unconvincing afterthought, the negative word "nothing. This suggests that she is not in total control of them even when she thinks she is.
Surely enough, in the beginning of stanza six, she wonders "how hungry they are", a line that reveals she is probably not capable of withholding food from them. If we interpret the bees to be what is bothering her, which could also e her family, here we see that she will not ill treat them because of it. Then, hypothesising the idea of letting them free, she begins to worry not of the possibility that they might attack her, but instead that they might "forget" her. This could be referring to the possibility that if she told her family what she feels about them, they might stop loving her and become indifferent to her. For the first time in the poem, she seems to detect the presence of other women with their "blond" hair, and "petticoats". They try to metamorphosize among the "colonnades" and the "cherry" and therefore to avoid being seen. This implies that there are other women in the same position as herself, who hide away their entire life.
Stanza seven, starts by once again hypothesising . This time however she starts by considering the idea of never showing her true self. By putting on a "moon suit and funeral veil" she would lose her identity, but at least her problems might "ignore" her. The reference to "funeral veil" could also suggest that after her death, her family would "ignore immediately" her. The use of the word immediately, implies that in any case they are bound to do it at some point. She could also set the bees free, and she reasons that as she is "no source of honey" they should not "turn on" her. However, she overlooks the fact that whoever is liberating the bees, or giving vent to repressed emotions, is bound to be vulnerable. This point is conveyed through the verbal play on "honey" and "sweet". Ironically, by being "sweet" and by thus setting them free, she will be like "honey" which is what the bees are after.
The last line of the poem is isolated from the rest of it. This brings great emphasis of this line. It states that "the box is only temporary". This is like a conclusion to the poem and to the great dilemmas which have taken place through it. The speaker has finally made a decision and asserts that she will release the bees, or in other words, reveal her feelings and the content will exceed the form.
All in all, this is a very complex poem which allows us to have great insight into the poet's personal life. We can see how she feels bound to lose whether she chooses to open the been box, and to thus release her emotions, or whether she chooses to keep it closed, and to therefore never be able to be her real self. She takes us through a series of reasoning steps and eventually lead us to her conclusion. This conclusion however is only reached at the very end of the poem and thus keeps us in suspense all the way through.
