Goethe means to convey gist (5)
I believe the answer is:
theme
'gist' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'goethe means to convey' is the wordplay.
'THEME' is hidden within the letters.
However, I'm not sure how this is indicated.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for theme that I've seen before include "Subject of a talk or piece of writing" , "matter for discussion" , "issue" , "Unifying motif" , "Topic, leitmotif" .)