„So mag es bei der Fratze bleiben.“

15:38 Apr 5, 2010 

QUOTE: ‘Wenn dies dir völlig Gnüge tut. | So mag es bei der Fratze bleiben’. I paraphrase: “Well, if that’s good enough for you, let’s do it your way which, frankly, is ludicrous.” Faust is offended that someone should take his name scratched on a piece of paper more serious than his word. That’s what the preceding outburst is all about (and hence his sarcastic proposal of chiselling it into marble). Might one say that in his view a [signed] piece of paper would masquerade as his [spoken] word - - if we insist on the image suggested by ‘Fratze’? Or that he takes such a document to be a mere caricature (of his word)? I’m probably making too much of this. But please note also that Faust satirises a parchment as a ‘Gespenst, vor dem sich alle scheuen’.

In any case, I believe that ‘Fratze’ here denotes ‘nonsense’ or ‘absurdity’, but I’d also go along with Bernhard’s ‘farce’ or 'gimmick'.