Goodness – an eye-opener but hidden in shame! (5)
I believe the answer is:
piety
'goodness' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both human attributes as well as being singular nouns.
Maybe you can see a link between them that I can't see?
'an eye-opener but hidden in shame' is the wordplay.
'an eye opener but' becomes 'e' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'hidden in' is an insertion indicator.
'shame' becomes 'pity' ('pity' can be a synonym of 'shame').
'e' placed within 'pity' is 'PIETY'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for piety that I've seen before include "paying proper duty" , "Godly behaviour" , "Devotion to religious principles" , "State of being devout in religion" , "Quality of devoutness" .)