] Maybe it wasn't her mother or her sisters she was trying to impress. I've always suspected that Mr. Bennet was much less cynical and withdrawn--happier and more involved with the family--when Jane and Elizabeth were children and he still had hope of producing an heir.

Regency fathers weren't much involved in raising young children, especially girls, and Mr. Bennet doesn't strike me as the sort who would enjoy babies and young children much. Once Lizzy started developing a sense of humor that he could related to, he may have decided that an offspring might have some points of interest, but it doesn't seem to me he would have had much interest before that.

] When the third daughter arrived and that hope started to erode, he started to withdraw, and possibly started to openly criticize his wife--misdirected anger?