Abruptly in 1677, Racine abandoned the stage, left Paris, became reconciled with the Jansenists of Port-Royal, and married. The reason for this sudden change of life is not clear, but the failure of Phèdre due to the conspiracy of a court clique certainly had something to do with it. It also seems certain that despite fame and favor Racine had never achieved peace of spirit in his dramatic career.
For the next eleven years, Racine lived quietly at Moulins, earning a living at two patronage posts granted him by the king, and fathering seven children. In 1688, Mme. de Maintenon, the staid companion of Louis XIV's old age, asked Racine to write a religious play suitable for staging by the young girls of good but impoverished families whom she was educating at St. Cyr. Racine complied with the biblical play Esther, and two years later, in 1690, with Athalie.
During his last years, Racine was largely forgotten by the literary world, and his death in 1699 caused no public mourning. He was buried at Port-Royal, which was itself to disappear six years later when it was forcibly closed on charges of heresy.
