In Paris, where Laertes has gone to study.
Reynaldo is a spy who is supposed to spy on Laertes.
Reynaldo is being sent to spy on Laertes. Polonius authorizes him to accuse Laertes of all kinds of immoral behaviour to find out from his associates whether he is in fact involved in it. The fact that this will tarnish Laertes's reputation in the process does not seem to bother him.
No, he sends Reynaldo to Paris to spy on Laertes.
Reynaldo is the spy that Polonius sends over to France to spy on his son Laertes. He is told that he is supposed to ask people in France what Laertes is actually like (does he party, drink, sleep with prostitutes etc.). The reasoning behind Polonius sending Reynaldo over to France is to see if Laertes is actually there studying art, or if he is just playing around.
To France, so he can spy on Laertes.
Reynaldo is a spy who is supposed to spy on Laertes.
Reynaldo is being sent to spy on Laertes. Polonius authorizes him to accuse Laertes of all kinds of immoral behaviour to find out from his associates whether he is in fact involved in it. The fact that this will tarnish Laertes's reputation in the process does not seem to bother him.
No, he sends Reynaldo to Paris to spy on Laertes.
Polonius sends Reynaldo to spy on Laertes. He is specifically tasked with asking around town in a roundabout manner.
Reynaldo is the spy that Polonius sends over to France to spy on his son Laertes. He is told that he is supposed to ask people in France what Laertes is actually like (does he party, drink, sleep with prostitutes etc.). The reasoning behind Polonius sending Reynaldo over to France is to see if Laertes is actually there studying art, or if he is just playing around.
To France, so he can spy on Laertes.
Polonius expects Laertes, when he is in Paris, to spend his time in pubs, brothels and gambling dens. He sends Reynaldo to spy on him and observe all his faults, and presumably to report back to Polonius. Why does Polonius do this? Because he loves spying on people. We will see him use this technique on Hamlet later on.
In Hamlet, Reynaldo is obligated to follow the instructions given to him by Polonius because Polonius is his superior Polonius sent Reynaldo to Paris so he could spy on Laertes for him..
He doesn't, really. He wants to see if other people will agree if Reynaldo starts slandering him, and doesn't realize that this plan will hurt Laertes's reputation regardless. He's acting out of curiosity. There's also a wild theory out there that he's specifically trying to get Laertes to kill Reynaldo.
• If Reynaldo follows Polonius’ instruction, he will essentially ruin Laertes’ reputation while trying to gather information.
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern spy on Hamlet, Claudius and Polonius spy on Hamlet while he is talking to Ophelia, and Polonius spies on Hamlet when he is talking to Gertrude. On the other hand, Hamlet and Horatio spy on Claudius during the play-within-a-play. And in a completely unrelated bit of spying Polonius gets Reynaldo to spy on Laertes.
Polonius assumes that Laertes will behave badly once out of his father's watchful eye. That is why he sets the spy Reynaldo on him to find out what bad things he is up to. He even tells Reynaldo to accuse him of bad things so Laertes will have a bad reputation whatever he does. Clearly Polonius's assumption about Laertes's lack of any moral fibre is based on his knowledge of himself.