Whose cannon was it?

Question

Claudius said, "the great cannon to the clouds shall tell."

A few lines later Hamlet said, "Oh...that the Everlasting had
not fixed his canon 'gainst self-slaughter."

Did Shakespeare intend puns on cannon and canon, and on Claudius and clouds? If so, how does that affect the meaning of Hamlet's line?

Answer 1

He certainly intended the canon/cannon pun; I doubt Claudius/cloud. The former pun injects a note of violence into the soliloquy which is echoed in the whole tone of this speech.