What does 'Keep your hand at the level of your eyes' mean?

I recently watched The Phantom of the Opera (2004 version) again, and I was just wondering what the heck 'Keep your hand at the level of your eyes' means... I dunno why I wanna know, it's just been bothering me, I guess.

What does 'Keep your hand at the level of your eyes' mean?sunshine

keep your hand at the level of your eyes is to help protect you from the Punjab lasso..... a favorite weapon of the phantom by doing so you would have a hand between the lasso and your neck so you could save yourself from strangulation

Joesph Buquet (sp?) shows this while he is telling his story about the phantom to the dancers earlier in the film

What does 'Keep your hand at the level of your eyes' mean?star theater opera theater

Keep Your Hand at the level of your eyes to protect your vision from the hideous face of The Phantom
i always wondered that too but i think it means that since the phantom was treated really bad at a younger age he has a hard time trusting people - so if you keep your hand at the level of your eye, then he knows you won't try to slip something past him that could hurt him. maybe i'm wrong... but that's what i guessed. --btw, that movie is awesome!
It means that he will hang you(he hung all his victims) Just do the motion. Put your hands to the level of your eyes and imagine if someone was trying to put a lasso around your head. Your arms would be able to pull it loose and take it off.
I read the book and i know why, no joke! There is actually a Persian that has been tracking the phantom and he is the one who leads christines boyfriend down into the depths of the phantoms home. The phantom was know to lasso men around their necks in a moment of suprise, circling their necks and hanging them before they could do anything. By holding their hands at the level of their eyes, they had their arms up by their necks and could escape from the noose, avoiding being strangled by the phantom. So the persian told him to keep his hand at the level of his eyes.
OMG!! That movie is MY FAVORITE MOVIE EVER!!!!!!! I absolutely, totally, extremely LOVE the Phantom of the Opera!!!!!

Madame Giry tells Raoul to keep his hands at the level of his eyes because The Phantom has his lasso's and tries to hang people (like he did to Boquet). If you have your hand at eye level, you can move the lasso so you won't get hung.

I am now totally in the mood to watch The Phantom of the Opera. No movie compares......

I LOVE THE PHANTOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
dbzcutie is right, I read the book too (lots of times) and if you keep your hand at the level of your eyes, if Eric (the Phantom) throws his punjab lasso at you, it will go around your hand as well as your neck and you can remove it and keep you from being strangled.

You really need to read the book, it's a lot different from the movie/play, both of which are awesome, but in many ways better - the ending is so sad, but I just love it, it's one of my top 3 favorite books.

Guaranteed to make you cry ....