In Act II, scene 1 of Shakespeare's play Hamlet, where does Polonius send Reynaldo? Why does he send him there?

is
sendingto Paris to deliver some money and "notes" to . This shows that Laertes has
been gone from Denmark for some time, since he said goodbye to his father and his sisterin . The
crafty Polonius is concerned about his son's behavior, or possible misbehavior, in Paris.
Laertes is young and has never been away from home before. Polonius knows there are many ways
for young men to get in trouble when they are on their own. He tells Reynaldo:

You shall do marvelous wisely, good Reynaldo,
Before you
visit him, to make inquire
Of his behaviour.

Obviously, Polonius is mainly concerned about keeping some sort of watch over his
beloved son. He gives Reynaldo extensive advice about how to "inquire of his
behaviour." Evidently he thinks Reynaldo should make such inquiries "before" he
visits him so that Laertes won't know Reynaldo is in Paris. Also, this will give Reynaldo an
excuse for asking questions about Laertes, as if he were having trouble finding him in the big
French city.

Take you, as 'twere, some distant knowledge
of him,
As thus, €˜I know his father and his friends,
And in part him. Do you
mark this, Reynaldo?
€˜And in part him, but, you may say, €˜not well....
if't
be he I mean, he's very wild,
Addicted so and so; and there put on him
What
forgeries you pleasemarry, none so rank
As may dishonour him, take heed of
that
But, sir, such wanton, wild and usual slips
As are companions noted
and most known
To youth and liberty.

Shakespeare
introduced Laertes to his audience in Act I, along with all the other principalin the play; but
the playwright had no present use for the Laertes and sent him off to France until he would be
needed much later after the death of his father Polonius. Shakespeare's main purpose for staging
the meeting between Polonius and Reynaldo Inseems to be to establish that Laertes is now in
far-away Paris and that some time has passed since he left. Laertes had to be introduced in Act
I so that the audience would recognize him when he came storming back to Denmark in
.