Could Shakespeare's Macbeth and its bloody murders be banished from the VCE?

Books, films and plays studied in the VCE will now be screened for "sustained realistic depictions of violence or physical, psychological or sexual abuse", "sustained, gratuitous use of coarse language" and "subject matter that appears to promote or normalise the abuse of alcohol, the use of illegal drugs, or other illegal behaviour".

An adaptation of the Shakespeare play in which trio of witches prophesy that Macbeth, a duke of Scotland, will become King and consumed by ambition he makes the prophecy real.

English, literature, drama and theatre studies texts containing these elements "are likely to be unsuitable", regardless of their literary merit, according to the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority.

Under new community standard rules, panels that choose VCE texts must consider whether they depict mature social and sexual relationships, personal or social violence, oppression, religious discrimination, racism or natural disasters, war or terrorism which have affected students and their families.

They should also take into account contentious political or historical issues and "weigh their contextual relevance against the merit of the text," according to a VCAA spokesman.

But well-known Australian author Alex Miller said the new guidelines were "a form of censorship" and would make the text list less relevant. 

"It is saying what is in, and what is out, not because it fails the test of quality, but because it has gratuitous violence or course language," he said.

He said VCE students were already exposed to challenging themes.

"The real world exists, regardless of whether it is in a book," he said. 

Writer Favel Parrett said she was concerned that powerful literary works would not meet the new guidelines, such as Cormac McCarthy's The Road, Hamlet and Macbeth.

"Macbeth has heaps of violence, someone gets an axe in their head, someone is garrotted," she said. 

She said writers needed to be true to their characters, even if that meant including violence or swearing.

Sonya Hartnett said thinking about the texts children were exposed to was a good thing. 

"I wouldn't want a kid of mine or my niece or nephew to be given a book at school that promoted suicide," she said. "I would find that deeply objectionable."

Education Minister James Merlino said the new guidelines struck a balance between "providing the challenging and stimulating material our students need while at the same time assuring it is appropriate." 

The changes follow a review which was ordered by Mr Merlino last year after two Jewish groups raised concerns about the inclusion of Tales of a City by the Sea on the drama text list.

The text, by Palestinian playwright Samah Sabawi, depicted life during war in Gaza.

It also comes as some students call for trigger warnings to notify them of distressing content in VCE texts, while others raise concerns about texts being "too depressing".

Victorian Association for the Teaching of English council member Paul Martin said that it was impossible for texts to meet all community standards.

"Different parts of the community have different expectations and not all of these can be met," he said.

He said that there had been relatively few controversies concerning VCE text over the past 30 years, which showed that the text selection panels had apparently got it right.

A VCAA spokesman said almost all of previous years' texts would be compliant with the guidelines.

They provide a lot more detail than the previous guidelines, which simply said selection panels must meet community expectations, "in particular with respect to offensive language, and sexually explicit or gratuitously violent content". 

Monika Wagner, a teacher and the past president of the Australian Association for the Teaching of English, welcomed the new guidelines and said they provided more clarity.

"It is not saying that we should censor texts, it is saying be thoughtful when we are selecting texts," she said.