Who is considered the protagonist in Herman Melville's "Moby-Dick"?

In Herman Melville's "Moby-Dick," the protagonist is Captain Ahab. He is the central character around whom the story revolves, driven by an obsessive quest for revenge against Moby Dick, the whale that had previously destroyed his ship and severed his leg. Ahab's determination and his monomaniacal focus on the whale serve as the primary driving force of the narrative, illustrating themes of obsession, revenge, and the struggle against nature.

While Ishmael serves as the narrator and provides the reader with insight into Ahab's character and the whaling culture, he is more of a lens through which the story is interpreted rather than the primary protagonist. Similarly, Queequeg and Starbuck play significant roles in the story, but their character arcs do not hold the same central focus as Ahab's. Ahab's complex personality and his ultimate fate encapsulate the novel's central conflicts, establishing him firmly as the protagonist of this literary epic.