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All Site ContentHamletAct 4Scene 6
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"light" and "bore"
Metaphor
Act 4,
Scene 6
Lines 21-27

An explanation of the phrase “too light for the bore” in Act 4, Scene 6 of myShakespeare’s Hamlet.

Horatio   

Let the king have the letters I have sent, and repair thou to 
me with as much haste as thou wouldest fly death. I have
words to speak in your ear will make thee dumb, yet they are
much too light for the bore of the matter. These good    
fellows will bring thee where I am. Rosencrantz and
Guildenstern hold their course for England. Of them I
have much to tell thee. Farewell.

In this metaphor, Horatio’s words too light for the subject, just as cannon balls can be too small (“light”) for the diameter (“bore”) of the cannon barrel.