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USING HATE.
Well, yes, I do think so. I have suspected for a long time that Snape was faking it. The childish hostility between James and Snape when they were kids does not add up. He should have grown up and moved on by now. I am sure that Snape's carefully cultivated hatred of Harry is for a purpose.
A good actor does not just pretend; he digs deep to find something that he can really feel. Sure, Snape's grudge against Harry is real. The best lies are half-true. But Snape is hamming it way-way-way up. I also believe that Dumbledore has been tolerating Snape's bad behavior, from the beginning, because it is a part of Snape's master plan to fool Voldemort.
Snape is able to "shut down those feelings and memories that contradict the lie," but that is not enough. Eventually, Voldemort would notice a blank, stone wall where a person with emotions should be. Snape needs to fill that blank space with something credible. Voldemort does not have the social / emotional depth to psychoanalyze Snape. Being a certified psychopath himself, he has no trouble believing the hate in Snape to be blinding. While intelligent enough in some ways, Voldemort is not big on people skills. He will see this strong emotion and believe it. And Snape can use it as a cover for whatever he is really up to.
Dumbledore, too, is fooling Harry so that Voldemort will believe these frauds -- both the "murder" and Snape's hate. Dumbledore is taking advantage of the fact that Harry never mastered Occlumency. It is all for a good cause, and I am sure that Harry will approve and forgive in the end.
Snape's lie to Bella, that he believed Voldemort dead, underlined this theme. Of course he knew. Even Hagrid knew that Voldemort would return. Snape and Dumbledore had been anticipating Voldemort's return from the day he vanished. Snape has been posing all along.
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Wow Psyduck, I am so relieved to see that someone else sees this all the way I do. Every time I bring this particular theory up, everyone looks at me like I am missing a few crucial screws. It has always been strange to me that Snape can be relatively calm and controlled with everyone else, and positively explode when Harry is around. He didn't even respond that way to Sirius Black, and Black had been much more aggravating for a much longer time. It is like he is acting. A bit over-the-top perhaps, but effective. ("No, he's not unstable. He's just suffered a very big disappointment.")
In fact, I think much of his behavior towards the students is also an act, especially the Griffindors. He is a spy for a very dangerous and tempermental person. If that person ever got so much as a glimpse of charity towards anybody but his favored group Snape would find himself taking a long walk off a short pier. I'm not saying he is really a pleasant guy brimming with good will, but he is intentionally acting much worse than he actually is.
Most people's argument with me about this theory has to do with occlumency. They tell me that Snape is an excellent Occlumens and could hide anything he wanted to. So let's look at this in a rational way. Is it easier to hide a mouse or an elephant? A few sparse good actions disguised underneath derision or blatant kindness dispensed at every turn? The fact is that he can't hide everything. And even if he could, he would be missing huge chunks of memory which Voldemort would certainly discover. I think we all know what would happen if Voldemort found Snape hiding anything from him. Being boiled in oil would be almost pleasant in comparison.
So, to sum it all up. I don't think Snape is nearly as bad as everyone thinks he is. He can be kind when he wants to be (think Narcissa.) He acts the way he does to survive, and secretly aid the Order.
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